The Final Begins: What Friday's Grand Prix Will Reveal — and What It Won't

The inaugural US Equestrian Open of Dressage Final opens Friday night in Thermal with the Grand Prix. It is the first of two tests that will decide this year's champion. The Grand Prix won't crown the winner outright (that's Saturday's freestyle), but it will tell us everything we need to know about who showed up ready.

Who's settled into the desert atmosphere? Who's scoring above their norm… or cracking under pressure? And which combinations look like they're about to have the weekend of their lives?

With Series leaders, World Cup finalists, rising stars, and West Coast heavyweights all converging at Desert International Horse Park’s main arena, this is the most competitive field of the season. 

The Grand Prix: Your First Real Read

The Grand Prix isn't a perfect predictor of the freestyle, but it's a clear signal for what’s to come. Because it’s a purely technical test, with no music, no degree of difficulty bonuses, and no choreography multipliers, it shows you exactly where each pair stands before artistry enters the equation. Plus, when a pair performs well on Friday, especially relative to their FEI averages, they almost always carry that confidence into Saturday. When a horse scores several points below its season norm, something's off: tension, travel fatigue, or the atmosphere itself.

The strongest GP performers this season are clear. Felicitas Hendricks and Drombusch OLD lead the field with a 74.256% personal best and the highest Grand Prix average (70.708%). Anna Marek and Fayvel follow closely with a 73.131% PB and a 70.148% average. They’re the only Finalists who have cracked 73% in a Grand Prix.

The Grand Prix reveals the foundation riders must build on in the freestyle. Strong technical horses tend to remain strong once the music starts. And riders who struggle in the GP rarely find enough artistic points the next night to cover gaps in basic execution. 

That’s why Friday matters.

Still, some combinations reliably climb when the music turns on. Karen Lipp and Infinity often sit in the high-60s on Friday, then jump several points in the freestyle. Charlotte Jorst and Zhaplin Langholt show a similar pattern with solid technical work that blossoms once music, harmony, and choreography are factored in. These are the types of riders whose Grand Prix scores undersell their freestyle potential.

Friday will show us exactly what each pair has under the hood. Saturday tells us what they can build on top of it.

The Gap Between the Tests

Across the season, the field trends three to five percentage points higher in Freestyles because the scoring system rewards more than execution: music, degree of difficulty, harmony, and choreography all carry 4x multipliers.

For some riders, that artistic boost is transformative. Benjamin Ebeling and Bellena average around 69% in the Grand Prix, but clear 75% in the freestyle. Bellena’s musicality and the pair’s overall harmony give them one of the biggest Grand Prix-to-Freestyle jumps of the field. Günter Seidel and Equirelle tell a similar story. The freestyle’s choreography lets Equirelle settle into a rhythm, so technical work like changes and passage smooth out, and the artistic multipliers lift the whole picture in a way the Grand Prix can’t.

So while Friday can give you a preview of what's to come, it can also mislead you. A mid-60s Grand Prix can turn into a low- or mid-70s freestyle if the technical base is solid. Strong Grand Prix rides almost always lead to strong freestyles. And riders who struggle a bit on Friday can still earn back marks on Saturday, but only to a point.

The real red flag is when a pair finishes well below their usual Grand Prix average. Horses do sometimes settle overnight, but heading into a championship test, a shaky Grand Prix rarely inspires confidence.

Don’t miss a moment of the US Equestrian Open Final. Watch live on USEF Network, dive deeper with the complete Fan Guide, and follow along on Instagram and Facebook for updates, results, and behind-the-scenes coverage.