Four Riders Confirmed for Asian Games Dressage Bid
Al Jahouri Rides Lotus-S to Tokyo
Four combinations will represent the UAE in dressage at the 20th Asian Games, the UAE Equestrian and Racing Federation has confirmed. Ali Khalfan Al Jahouri, Bianca Schütz, Mohamed Jassim Al Serkal and Natalie Lankester make up the squad heading to Tokyo.
Ali Khalfan Al Jahouri, Bianca Schütz, Mohamed Jassim Al Serkal and Natalie Lankester will compete at JRA Equestrian Park in Tokyo, with the dressage competition running from 25 to 27 September 2026 across both team and individual disciplines.
Al Jahouri rides Lotus-S, a 10-year-old KWPN gelding by Grand Galaxy Win out of a Juventus mare, while Schütz partners Le Grand Ayden HB, a 10-year-old KWPN stallion. Al Serkal is paired with Zen Liquidity, and Lankester rides Tesla DXB, a 2015 KWPN stallion by Vitalis out of a Johnson mare. All four horses travelled through pre-export quarantine in Aachen, Germany, from 4 September 2026 before a scheduled arrival in Tokyo on 15 September 2026.
Lankester Returns as Team's Form Rider
The UAE fielded a dressage team at the Asian Games for the first time at the 2022 Games in Hangzhou, held in September 2023 after a COVID-related postponement, where the squad finished sixth. Al Jahouri and Al Serkal both featured in that team debut, riding Ecencka and Hermes V respectively, giving the current squad a core of returning championship experience heading into Tokyo.
Lankester produced the UAE's best individual dressage result at the Hangzhou Asian Games, finishing 12th and becoming the first UAE rider to qualify for an Asian Games individual Freestyle final. She heads to Tokyo with Tesla DXB, a partnership formed only in April 2026, after the pair achieved the Minimum Eligibility Requirements during a European campaign earlier in the 2026 season.
Schütz also returns for a second Asian Games appearance, having ridden Fearless WS in Hangzhou. Her partnership with Le Grand Ayden HB began internationally in October 2025, and the pair won the Intermediate I Freestyle at CDI1* Kronberg in June 2026 with a score of 72.340%, one of several top-ten international finishes recorded during the qualification campaign.
Al Serkal, who debuted for the UAE team with Hermes V in Hangzhou, has partnered Zen Liquidity since the start of 2026. The combination's qualification campaign peaked in February 2026, when they won the CDI1* Small Tour in Abu Dhabi and finished as overall champions of the division, a result that doubled as a qualifying score for the Tokyo campaign.
Building Toward the Tokyo Test
Al Jahouri began competing internationally with Lotus-S in October 2025, and the pairing has since built extensive Small Tour experience across European venues, ahead of the gelding's first championship start.
All four combinations spent the 2026 season competing across Europe and the UAE to assemble the qualifying record needed for Asian Games selection. Each of the four riders followed that dual-continent route in the build-up to Tokyo, splitting the season between fixtures on both continents to accumulate the results the federation weighed in making its selection. That density of competition appears to have suited all four horse-and-rider pairs as they worked to meet the Minimum Eligibility Requirements ahead of selection.
The scheduled 15 September 2026 arrival in Tokyo was designed to give all four horses time to recover from travel and adjust before the first dressage sessions begin on 25 September 2026, with ten days set aside between arrival and the opening dressage sessions.
Two debutant partnerships — Al Jahouri with Lotus-S and Lankester with Tesla DXB in their new pairing — make up part of the team's overall composition. Both combinations arrive with solid Small Tour form behind them, built through the same European qualification campaign that shaped the rest of the squad's preparation, while their riders draw on prior championship experience from Hangzhou ahead of a first start together at this level.