Anna Marek rides Fayvel to victory in US Open CDI5* Grand Prix

THERMAL, California, Nov. 14, 2025–Anna Marek rode Fayvel to victory in the US Open CDI5* Grand Prix at Desert International Horse Park Friday night with a slim margin between the top three places in the inaugural year of the $250,000 event.

Anna of the Ocala area community of Dunellen and the 15-year-old gelding that she competed at the 2024 World Cup Final, scored 70.804% for the win to confirm her status at top of the leaderboard after the year of qualifying competitions.

Benjamin Ebeling. based in Wellington, Florida, on Bellena, 15-year-old mare that he took over from his father and began competing at the start of this year, was reserve on 70.522%.

Felicitas Hendricks and her Drombusch OLD, 14-year-old gelding, scored 70.500% for third place. The German partnership won team gold and Freestyle bronze at the European Under-25 Championships in September. At the 2023 U-25 Europeans she and Drombusch took team and individual golds and freestyle silver. She is a regular competitor on Wellington’s Global Dressage Festival since her first participation on Faible AS as a junior rider in 2015.

The Grand Prix Freestyle to decide the title is scheduled for Saturday.

The top 18 qualifiers already split $50,000 with $200,000 remaining for this weekend’s final.

The Grand Prix was supposed to be of the top 18 combinations but some of the top scoring qualifiers did not do enough qualifiers or opted to compete at shows that conflicted with the US Open that offered at least $250,000 prize money for each of the three Olympic disciplines of dressage, eventing and jumping.

The dressage Grand Prix started with 13 rider and horse combinations after one rider and horse had flown from the East Coast but were initially told they could not compete because they did not meet the CDI5* Grand Prix minimum score of 65% but when that was waived the horse did not pass veterinary inspection.

Riders with the highest scores, Christian Simonson on Indian Rock (81.405%) who is seeking to represent the U.S. at the World Cup Final in Fort Worth, Texas next April competed in only one qualifier, while Kevin Kohmann on Dünensee (79.240%), a two-time World Cup Final contestant, tied for third in the Open standings opted to compete instead at a €300,000 (US$345,000) World Cup event in Mexico a week earlier.

Results:

US Open Final CDI5* Grand Prix Rank Competitor Score E H C M B 1. Anna Marek (USA)

Fayvel

70.804% 70.217 73.261 71.196 69.891 69.457 2. Benjamin Ebeling (USA)

Bellena

70.522% 71.522 72.500 71.413 69.457 67.717 3. Felicitas Hendricks (GER)

Drombusch OLD

70.500% 69.022 72.283 70.978 70.109 70.109 4. Kristina Harrison-Antell (USA)

Finley

68.978% 69.239 69.022 70.000 68.370 68.261 5. Jan Ebeling (USA)

Jubi’s Tenacity

68.500% 68.696 67.174 69.130 69.022 68.478 6. Geñay Vaughn (USA)

Gino

68.370% 67.826 69.674 68.587 69.239 66.522 7. Charlotte Jorst (USA)

Zhaplin Langholt

67.913% 68.587 68.370 69.130 66.087 67.391 8. Laura De Cesari (USA)

Rossi

67.304% 66.304 67.391 67.283 67.609 67.935 9. Karen Lipp (USA)

Infinity

66.196% 68.152 67.391 64.783 66.087 64.565 10. Brittney Simpson (CAN)

Kartsevo Goldfinch

66.087% 65.652 66.087 67.391 68.152 63.152 11. Laine Ashker (USA)

Zeppelin

65.935% 66.087 66.630 66.196 64.783 65.978 11. Nadine Schwartsman (USA)

Royal Flash R

65.935% 65.217 65.870 66.413 66.630 65.543 13. Günter Seidel (USA)

Equirelle

60.739% 61.522 61.848 60.870 59.348 60.109 EL Adriane Alvord (USA)

Selfmade

eliminated

Photo: Anna Marek on Fayvel. © SusanJStickle.com