The Grass Field Next Door Just Hosted Its Last Grand Prix. Here's Where Palm Beach Point's Show Season Goes This Winter.

Luis Fernando Larrazabal won the final grand prix on the Equestrian Village derby field riding Camp S, a 10-year-old Hanoverian gelding. He finished the jump-off in 36.143 seconds to take the $24,999 Perfect Products Grand Prix. "This is bittersweet," he told Wellington International afterward. "This grass has been very, very nice to me the last couple of years."

That Sunday closed Fall Circuit III, which ended Oct. 25 and was billed as the final week of competition on the Equestrian Village grass. Grass show-jumping now moves to the other side of Palm Beach Point. The new derby field is at Wellington International South, a 98-acre venue. It sits at the northwest corner of South Shore Boulevard and Lake Worth Road, and the Village-filed site plan lists Palm Beach Point East as one of the property's neighbors to the south. For people who live off South Shore, the center of the season is shifting from Pierson Road toward Lake Worth Road. Between now and mid-January, everything is still running out of the old North grounds.

The holiday series is the last stretch run entirely from North

Competition went back to Wellington International North on Oct. 30, the week Equestrian Village closed. The North grounds are at 3400 Equestrian Club Drive. This week the South Florida Hunter Jumper Association Charity Show is running there, Nov. 18 through 22. After that, the Holiday Series takes over the calendar through the first weekend of January. Daytime general admission is free at every show on the list. The gates are open Thursday through Sunday at most of the shows, and Friday through Sunday at the Year End Awards and the Holiday Circuit Finale.

Holiday & Horses is the only FEI star-rated show in the series and the first of the holiday weeks. The night to circle is Saturday, Dec. 12, during Holiday Festival II. That evening's Saturday Night Lights features the $30,000 Vault Insurance Grand Prix. Gates open at 6 p.m. and the first horse goes at 6:30. General admission is free, with 1,500 blue seats available first come, first served. There is also live music, a carousel, face painting and games for children, food and beverage vendors, and shopping. The same night marks the launch of the new BrainJuice Tiki Hut experience and a holiday food drive for Feed The Hungry, so bring non-perishables. Parking is $25 per car, or $35 for valet.

That Saturday is a good test run for the winter. It is the same free-gate evening format the North grounds use during WEF, with a smaller crowd and a holiday food drive at the gate.

January 14 is the day the map changes

Wellington International South lists Jan. 14, 2027, as its opening date. The June announcement had aimed for fall 2026. The opening event is GDF Week 1, which covers the CDI-W, National and Lloyd Landkamer Memorial classes and runs Jan. 14 through 17. Daytime admission is free Thursday through Sunday, and daytime valet is $20. Friday, Jan. 15, brings Friday Night Stars with a World Cup Qualifier Grand Prix Freestyle. Gates open at 6 p.m., competition starts at 7, and general parking is $25.

The Palm Beach Post reported in July that the new complex would replace the Equestrian Village facilities along South Shore Boulevard. The South venue is designed as the long-term home of the Adequan Global Dressage Festival. It will also host FEI show jumping, hunter derbies, Under 25 jumping and seasonal events. According to the June announcement, spectators will find:

• Permanent covered grandstands seating 1,500
• Covered spectator seating at every competition ring
• Food and retail areas by the CDI International Arena and the Covered Arena
• Thousands of parking spaces for cars and golf carts
• A new horse show office and a bridge for horses and people linking the stabling and competition areas

The grass on Lake Worth Road was grown from its own soil

The new derby field was designed by Richard Hayden of Hayden Turfcare. Soil was dug on the property, then screened and amended. The field was planted with hybrid Bermuda sprigs, with winter grass overseeded each November. A drainage system of attenuation cells buried under the turf is designed to handle a one-in-100-year storm, and the irrigation can lay down about two inches of water in roughly 15 minutes. The crew has been maintaining the field as if it were already hosting competition. "When course designers come here and see this, it's going to excite them," Hayden told Wellington International in September.

The field measures 375 by 425 feet and has a dedicated tailgating area. Wellington International's preview of the 2027 Winter Equestrian Festival describes the tailgating area as built for golf carts. The same preview says the 1.30m Young Jumpers will compete on the new derby field during select WEF weeks. From the derby-field sidelines you can watch young horses meet grass, in the open air, from a parked cart.

How traffic will move between the two grounds

The Village's site plan treats Gene Mische Way as the north-south link. It runs between Gracida Street, which the plan also calls 40th Street, and Pierson Road, with two-way vehicle access to both venues. The plan also calls for golf-cart and bridle connections between the facilities and the surrounding communities. Under a Village condition of approval, Gene Mische Way between Gracida and Pierson carries all showground traffic during operating hours. Either end may be gated, and on-street parking is not allowed. Competitors will use the South Competitor Entrance at 3780 Gene Mische Way. Spectators will use the venue's public address, 14001 Gracida Street.

Once both grounds are running, a free golf-cart shuttle will circle the North and South properties. An interactive digital map with walking directions and vendor information is due on the Wellington International website in early winter.

WEF's 50th season will use both sides

The 2027 Winter Equestrian Festival is the 50th edition, with special events and limited-edition merchandise planned throughout the season. The first two Saturday nights are at North:

1. Premiere Week, Jan. 6–10. The $75,000 Battle of the Sexes presented by LeMieux is Saturday night. Admission is free, gates open at 6 p.m., and competition starts at 7.
2. Week 1, Jan. 13–17. A $500,000 CSI5* Grand Prix headlines Saturday Night Lights, with free admission, live music, a carousel, children's activities and vendors.

Week 1 overlaps with the South venue's opening. On Jan. 15 and 16, top-level dressage and top-level show jumping will run on back-to-back nights, on grounds that sit just north of Palm Beach Point on either side.

The use of both grounds continues past opening week. To ease crowding at North, WEF will run some classes in Rings A through D at South. North's main rings have had their own off-season work as well. New footing went into the Rost, Grand Hunter, Mogavero and DeNemethy rings and Rings 6, 8, 9 and 10. Ring 8 was widened substantially, gained an adjacent viewing tent, and will host classes that used to run in the DeNemethy Ring.

Week 8 will host North America's first CHIO, with CSIO4*, CDIO3*, CSIOJ and CSIOCH classes. The Great Charity Challenge, sponsored by Fidelity Investments, returns for its 18th year under the theme "Once Upon a Masquerade." Last season it gave more than $2.3 million to more than 80 nonprofits.

As for the old field on Pierson Road, the Town-Crier reported in 2024 that the approved plan allows housing on the Equestrian Village land only after the consolidated showgrounds are finished. The paper put the deadline for that work at the end of 2028.

If the move of the show season is changing how you think about your own farm on South Shore, whether you are timing a seasonal lease around the new South grounds or deciding which side of the neighborhood suits your barn, Martha's Properties can talk it through with you in confidence. Request Private Listing Access & Consultation, and we will walk the new grounds with you before the Jan. 14 opening.