How Anna Marek Won the Series
Anna Marek didn’t dominate from the starting gate, but she ended the season exactly where it matters most: on top.
With 105 points, Anna Marek became the first rider in US Equestrian Open of Dressage history to cross the 100-point mark, sealing her place as the inaugural Series champion.
The Art of Almost Winning
When the season opened in January, Marek sat mid-pack while European riders like Felicitas Hendricks and Evelyn Eger traded early wins. But by Week 10, after a string of podiums in Wellington and Ocala, she overtook the leaderboard. From that point on, no one caught her.
Across her six qualifying runs, Marek never finished lower than third and averaged over 75% in every freestyle. She also logged four second-place finishes, more than any other rider in the Series. It’s the kind of stat that cuts both ways: a testament to her reliability, but also a question mark heading into the Final.
Can the sport’s most consistent contender finally trade silver for gold when it matters most?
The Power of Two
Most riders only managed one horse through the Series. Marek managed two.
Fire Fly, the high-voltage Pan Am Games medalist, brings flair with an all-time best of 78.750%. But he’s a sensitive horse. Electric, but unpredictable under pressure.
Fayvel, by contrast, is the dependable one. A 15-year-old KWPN gelding by Zizi Top, he’s an accurate horse, rarely dropping below 75%. Marek herself calls him “bold but honest,” a horse who gives her confidence to take risks.
When she needed reliability, Fayvel delivered. When she needed brilliance, Fire Fly did. That dual approach kept her ahead of riders just fielding one mount.
What the Numbers Say
Heading into the Final, Marek is the only rider in the field with two proven Grand Prix Freestyle horses, both capable of scoring in the high 70s. She’s logged seven top-four finishes this season, more than any other competitor, and her 105 points make her the most consistently high-scoring American across the year.
On paper, that consistency makes her a statistical favorite for another podium… but not necessarily for the win. Four second-place finishes have shown she’s reliably in the mix, but rarely untouchable.
The question now is whether she can ride for first in the palm-lined arenas of Thermal, California.
