Marcus Orlob and Jane Attain Career High Score to Spearhead 3 Graces Dressage CDI5* Grand Prix Special
Delightful performances resulted in a cascade of personal bests in the 3 Graces Dressage CDI5* Grand Prix Special on Saturday during week three of the 12-week 2026 Adequan® Global Dressage Festival (AGDF) in Wellington, FL. Spearheading the showcase of classy riding was the U.S. Olympic pairing of Marcus Orlob and Jane (by Desperado) with a captivating, powerful and supple test performed in soft, uphill balance. Their 75.979% included two plus-77% judges’ scores.
The top four riders in the class all pulled off personal bests under Florida’s picture-perfect blue winter skies. Canadian Olympian Brittany Fraser-Beaulieu’s second-placed mount Jaccardo—another 12-year-old by the Vivaldi stallion Desperado—scored 74.575%. Jaccardo, owned by Jill Irving, has been at international grand prix level for less than a year, and this was his first Special. The score was just 1% shy of the Canadian record in this test, which was set by Belinda Trussell and Anton at AGDF in 2016. California-based Geñay Vaughan rode her mother’s 15-year-old Bretton Woods gelding, Gino, to a new best score in this test of 71.681%.
This CDI proved that Orlob is finally figuring out a routine and test riding style that suits Jane; there was no hint of the tensions that dogged her in the ring in previous years.
“I was really happy that she behaved and controlled her nerves [in the Grand Prix] on Thursday, and again today she had a good performance,” said Orlob, who was unfortunately eliminated just seconds into his test on Jane at the Paris 2024 Olympics thanks to a speck of blood on her leg. “I always talk about how she needs to relax, and finally, I think we’re getting there, and we can start to show what we can do.
“I started the test today a little conservative,” he continued. “Then, as it went on, she started to breathe and I let her go a bit more and the passage was really nice. Our mission is to get her more relaxed in the one-tempis, but the pirouettes were super. At the end, she stood there while people clapped—I was very proud that she didn’t explode.”
Orlob has had the ride on the “sensitive, energetic” mare for two years after taking over from owner Alice Tarjan.
“I’m slowly finding her buttons, and she’s trusting me,” he concluded. “It’s starting to turn into a relationship. All the travelling and the desensitizing is paying off; it just took time.”
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