WELLINGTON, Fla.--Anna Marek on Fayvel won the qualifying Grand Prix for Freestyle, the first of two grand prix on Thursday, Feb. 8 at the Global Dressage Festival
Anna Marek on Fayvel (Photo by Susan Stickle)Marek, who is currently fourth on the North American League World Cup dressage rankings, is trying to move up on the list, to be able to compete at the World Cup Final in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in April.
She began her campaign by winning the qualifying Grand Prix, scoring 72.826% on the 14-year-old KWPN gelding Fayvel, a huge personal best for the horse as his previous high score in this test was 69.456%, which Marek set in the first week of the Festival.
Kevin Kohmann was second with another personal best score on Dünensee, scoring 71.239%.
Kohmann currently is second on the North American League rankings.
Portugal’s Maria Pais Do Amaral scored 68.435% to place third place on Hot Hit OLD, the former ride of Germany’s Frederic Wandres.
MAREK AND Kohmann will both be trying for the 20 ranking points that go to the winner of Friday night’s freestyle.
Marek describes Cynthia Davila’s Fayvel as “a bit of a freak” and “like riding a bouncy ball”.
“He has no thoughts other than he’s very forward and he does what you ask him to do,” said Marek of Ocala, Fla. “I’ve shown him quite a bit nationally, and this was my third CDI on him, and we had a clean ride. There were pieces of it that I could have maybe ridden a bit better, but overall I was thrilled with him and a little bit shocked and excited that he was so well rewarded. He’s a really fun, forward, honest horse to ride.
“His owner came to me having ridden a green I-1 and he was young,” she said. “I taught him the piaffe and the passage and his adult amateur owner hopped back on and showed him grand prix, his first grand prix, her first grand prix. If you ask it right on him, he does it. I told her, ‘He piaffes and passages the same for you as he does for me, this is not normal!’ He just loves his job. You ask him for more and he asks how much and starts hiking his legs.”
“Last time he was a bit spooky in this stadium, so I was anticipating that and trying to make sure he was comfortable and confident,” said Marek, who trains with Anne Gribbons. “The one funny thing about him is he absolutely hates being alone. So every single time I walk into that stadium he throws his head up and screams. Then I get his head back down and off we go to do our test.”
Marek, who has applied for the CDI5* show in AGDF10 with both Fayvel and Fire Fly, will perform her fourth CDI Freestyle with Fayvel at ‘Friday Night Stars’ in the World Cup Grand Prix Freestyle on Friday evening under lights.
In the day’s other top-level class, the CDI3* FEI Grand Prix, Tinne Vilhelmson Silfvén, a seven-time Olympian for Sweden, won the class on Hyatt with a score of 69.348% in the mare’s third ever big tour CDI.
Canada’s Camille Carier Bergeron scored a new high score of 67.804% on Finnländerin to place second, and Ashley Holzer on Hansel scored 67.739% to place third.
Vilhelmson Silfvén's 11-year-old gelding seemed none the worse for wear after getting loose during Wednesday’s horse inspection.
“Four weeks ago when I went in with Hyatt in the stormy weather, she got a bit excited and scared, so today I just wanted to have a good round," said Vilhelmson Silfvén. "To ride she is great, she just needs to learn about all the other stuff around. I just want to give her good experiences so she gets trusting."
“She loves to work for me," she said. "She’s so ambitious and eager to go that it’s really my responsibility to treat that in a good way so that she goes in there and says, ‘Look at me!’ She has enormous energy and can do piaffe/passage and pirouettes super easy. She’s also a horse with this lovely, electric feeling that makes you smile when you ride her.”
“This winter season here is always a perfect preparation,” she said. “Having a new horse like this that I’m trying to get into the big sport it’s perfect, you can compete a lot of weeks without traveling. You can ride on Fridays in the night and get a real experience and practice the championship feeling, or go over in the National side where it’s more quiet. There is everything, the possibility to do all that is perfect.”
