Anna Marek on Fayvel Captures US Open Grand Prix, Ben Ebeling on Bellena Reserve, Germany’s Felicitas Hendricks & Drombusch 3rd
4 weeks ago StraightArrow Comments Off on Anna Marek on Fayvel Captures US Open Grand Prix, Ben Ebeling on Bellena Reserve, Germany’s Felicitas Hendricks & Drombusch 3rd
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:
| 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 | |||||
 Find details on Equestrian Hub |
