Anna Marek and Fayvel Smash Freestyle Personal Best to Qualify for 2024 World Cup™ Final During AGDF 5
Anna Marek and Fayvel got the crowd on their feet and clapping to the beat of their winning performance in the ‘Friday Night Stars’ FEI World Cup™ Grand Prix Freestyle, sponsored by The Dutta Corp on Friday, February 9. This is the second of three World Cup™ legs hosted this year by the Adequan® Global Dressage Festival (AGDF) circuit in Wellington, Florida. AGDF 2024, which hosts seven weeks of CDI competition, runs through March 31.
From last draw, Marek rode the 14-year-old Zizi Top x Houston gelding Fayvel to 78.457%, eclipsing their previous best of 77.715%, set during AGDF 1. The British five-star judge Stephen Clarke awarded the pair’s high score of 81.1%. Their win handed them 20 FEI ranking points, enough to secure a starting berth at the FEI World Cup™ Final in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (April 16-20).
Just as in Thursday’s qualifying Grand Prix class, Kevin Kohmann slotted into second behind Marek, chalking up 75.89% on Diamante Farms’s 15-year-old Hanoverian gelding Dünensee (Dancier x Davignon). Susan Dutta piloted her own and her husband Tim’s 14-year-old Don Design DC (Der Designer x Sir Donnerhall) to third with 73.31%, rounding out the all-American podium.
To strains of Kygo’s ‘At Least We Stole The Show’ and remixes of ‘Let’s Dance’ put together by Karen Robinson, Marek came out all guns blazing, pulling off a technically challenging test with power and risk. Spectators started whooping when she rode a half-20m circle of two-time changes which melted seamlessly into a diagonal of one-time changes. Marek’s groom Kate Esterline was awarded the $500 grooms prize, sponsored by Massa Horses.
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