WELLINGTON, Fla.--U.S.riders placed first and second in the FEI World Cup Grand Prix Freestyle, with Anna Marek on Fire Fly scoring 77.755% to win over Kevin Kohmann on Dünensee, scoring 77.545% for second, with Thursday’s qualifying grand prix winner, Germany’s Felicitas Hendricks, on Drombusch OLD finishing third with 76.365% during ‘Friday Night Stars’ on Jan.24.
Anna Marek on Fire Fly (Photo by Susan Stickle)Temperatures dipped to 47°F and spectators bundled up for the unusually long cold spell this week in Wellington.
The class was also a qualifier for the new US Equestrian Open of Dressage, which features 23 qualifiers, seven of which are at the Festival, before the final in California in November.
Hendricks now leads the qualifying scoreboard with 37 points, though the top three riders all have the final in their crosshairs.
Ocala-based Marek began riding Fire Fly just over three years ago, and they won team gold and individual bronze at the 2023 Pan American Games.
Marek's freestyle, set to music from the Stranger Things soundtrack, carried a high degree of difficulty and included 13 two-time changes on a curve and metronomic, drumbeat passage.
“THIS FREESTYLE is really fun to ride, and I love the dramatic music,” said Marek. “This is my favorite freestyle venue to ride at; you can feel the atmosphere, and the horses get excited in a really good way. I knew he’d get pumped up."
“Fire Fly is a very sensitive, spooky horse,” said Marek, who trains with Anne Gribbons. “When I started riding him I told his owner it might take me a while for us to show Grand Prix together, but we keep getting better and better. It’s taken us a little while to get on the same page, but now I feel like he’d do anything for me. It’s really exciting.”
Kohmann had an energetic freestyle with a high degree of difficulty, coming straight out of the first halt into canter pirouettes and curving changes to a modern compilation including the lyrics ‘At least we stole the show’.
He even rode a piaffe pirouette in the middle of the walk section.
“That was my best ride on him,” said Kohmann, who currently leads the FEI World Cup North American League. “I was super thrilled, especially that my horse is finally walking calmly, as that was not always our strength. I love riding the freestyle and I love riding here under the lights.”
Hendricks and her Destano gelding Drombusch had a couple of uncharacteristic problems to score below this pair’s previous best.
“I think the cold got to us a little today,” said Hendricks. “There was some spiciness that I didn’t expect so I had to back off a bit which made me maybe a little too shy with my aids and led to a couple of mistakes. But I’d rather have a horse with too much energy than a horse with low energy. I know warmer days are coming and we’ll be back on track then. It’s all a learning experience that never ever stops.”
In the opening round of the five qualifiers of the Future Challenge, Rebecca Cohen was the first to qualify for the finals, winning the FEI Intermediate II class with 67.912% on Jameson.
Second-placed Austin Webster also qualified on the 9-year-old Guildenstern Sol, the youngest horse in the class, with 65.441%.
The Future Challenge, which is open to developing grand prix horses from 8 to 11 years old, is in its sixth year at the Festival.
In Friday’s daytime CDI1* FEI Intermediate I, Kevin Kohmann on Scala scored 70.735% to win.
Jemma Heran on Total Recall (Photo by Susan Stickle)On Saturday, Jan, 25, Australia's Jemma Heran on Total Recall won their first CDI class together since starting international competition in 2022, winning the CDI3* Grand Prix Special.
Last to go in the class of 10 starters, Heran scored 69.021%, a new career high score for the pair in this test.
Evelyn Eger of Germany finished second on Gossip Girl 9 with 68.426%, and Erin Nichols was just 0.043 percentage points behind, placing third with 68.383% on Elian Royale.
“This one is a little special as I’ve had Total Recall for a long time, since he was 7, so we’ve been on a journey together,"said Heran. "We did a lot of national small tour in Australia. The goal was to do some U25s before I aged out, but with Covid we had no shows in Australia. We did our first CDI in Fritzens in Austria in 2022. At this show his attitude is what has stood out; he was really concentrated whereas he used to be a little silly, so that’s special.
“I really want the consistency now,” she said. “He develops every time I go in the ring. The work at home is incredibly solid. I can do it one handed and everything is super easy, so it’s just about getting him to see the atmosphere, the people and the show scene a bit more as an international horse. Toti is really cute, like a pet dog, in the stable. When it comes to riding, he’s very ‘on’ and knows he’s at a show.”
Para athletes also competed in the main arena during Festival 3, with Kate Shoemaker on her Paris 2024 Paralympic bronze medal partner, the 9-year-old mare Vianne scoring 76.937% in the CPEDI3* FEI Para Grand Prix Test B Grade IV to have her second personal best of the week at their first show since the Games last summer.
The pair is currently ranked third in the world for their grade.
Helen Claire Merrill-McNulty on Shoemaker’s former ride, Colijn, at their first CPEDI, won the CPEDI2* FEI Para Intermediate Test B Grade V with 67.071%.
