WELLINGTON, Fla.--Christian Simonson on Fleau De Baian won the CDI3* Grand Prix Special 0n Saturday, Feb. 28, and Tinne Vilhelmson Silfvén of Sweden won the CDI4* Grand Prix Freestyle Friday evening at the Global Dressage Festival.

Christian Simonson on Fleau De Baian (Photo by Centre Line Media)Simonson scored 71.255% in the pai's second-ever CDI Special, topping their previous best of 70%, set when they won during Week 5 of the Festival.

Endel Ots on Bohemian, who were travellng reserves for the U.S. team at the 2024 Paris Olympics, scored 69.681% for second place.

Michael Klimke of Germany on the youngest horse in the field, 10-year-old Harmony’s Dante’s Peak, was third with 68.915%.

“Today ‘Felix’ let me ride him, gave me his back, and tried really hard,” said the 23-year-old Simonson, who only rode his first senior international big tour test in May of 2023. “I think the highlights today were the lateral work and the trot work, and maybe the extensions and the piaffe/passage. He let me keep asking for more and more.”

After a mistake in the one-time changes on the diagonal, which scored threes and fours from the judges, Simonson refocused Felix to ensure the pirouette-changes-pirouette sequence on the centerline remained fault-free and powerful.

 

“I KNEW because of the mistake that I had to make up a lot of points there, so I thought, ‘Okay, let’s try to get eights on everything here for the double coefficient,’” said Simonson, who first rode in the CDI ring with Fleau De Baian nine months ago. “I’ve learned a lot from this horse, and he’s taught me a lot, too. He was basically my first senior grand prix horse. He’s telling me a lot about how to school lines, and we’ve grown a lot in the piaffe/passage work. With Adrienne Lyle], I’ve learned how to make it all fun and bouncy.”

Tinne Vihelmson Silfvén on Hyatt (Photo by Centre Line Media)Adrienne Lyle on My Vitality win the Future Challenge qualifier, a series for developing grand prix horses from eight to 11 years old.

Performing the intermediate II test, Lyle scored 71.265 and qualified for the week 11 final.

Canada’s Lindsay Kellock Duckworth on Kensington, scored 69.206% to place second and also qualify for the March 20 final.

During Friday Night Stars, Silfvén of Sweden on Hyatt won the CDI4* Grand Prix Freestyle, while Jennifer Williams on Joppe K won the CDI4* Grand Prix Special.

Silfvén's score of 78% was their second highest to date.

Germany’s Michael Klimke on Harmony’s Fado placed second in the horse’s second-ever CDI freestyle, with a new personal best of 74.77%.

Susan Dutta on Don Design DC scored 72.895% to place third,

Vilhelmson Silfvén has been riding Hyatt since March of 2023.

“Last year, I didn’t dare to compete Hyatt in the Friday night class because she is really motivated and very awake,” said the seven-time Olympian. “Over the past year, I started to think it could work. I took her in the five-star and she got really excited, but today she was super."

“I’m always searching for the balance between power and relaxation, and I don’t always succeed,” she said. “What horses need is to have trust in you and to like their work. You need a smart setup for every horse, which is different for every animal, so you figure out what’s good for them. For sure, the chance to ride here in the winter, at this show with perfect atmosphere, is a super opportunity to teach the horses how to go.”

Vilhelmson Silfvén rode to a Beach Boys medley put together for her London and Rio Olympics mount Don Auriello 12 years ago by Cees Slings, who died in October 2025, making this performance especially poignant.

“I’ve been resting this freestyle and it’s dear to me,” said Vilhelmson Silfvén. “I realized that some of the judges haven’t heard it either. My goal tonight was that Hyatt would trust me and go. She was ‘on it’ and yet could still walk out on a long rein and be a happy horse, and I’m very pleased about that.”
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Hyatt’s schedule includes one more CDI show at AGDF before returning to Europe and embarking on the selection process for the Swedish team for the FEI World Championships in Aachen, Germany, in August.

The freestyle class doubled as a qualifier for the US Equestrian Open of Dressage series, now in its second season.

This year it features 24 qualifiers—seven of which are at AGDF—before the final in California in November.