Vaughn and Gino Make History With a Personal Best at the Dressage Final

Geñay Vaughn and Gino are your 2026 US Equestrian Open of Dressage Final champions. A year after the title slipped away in Thermal, they swept the weekend and capped it with a personal best of 77.355% in Saturday's Freestyle.

By Marissa Isgreen

November 14, 2026

Geñay Vaughn and Gino are the 2026 US Equestrian Open of Dressage Final champions. A night after winning the Grand Prix, they won Saturday's Grand Prix Freestyle at Desert International Horse Park with a personal best of 77.355%, 1.905 points ahead of Michael Klimke and Harmony's Dante's Peak. Devon Kane and Vamos were 3rd on 72.965%.

Freestyle Results

Freestyle Results
Place	Combination	Score %
1	Geñay VaughnGino	77.355PB
2	Michael KlimkeHarmony's Dante's Peak	75.450PB
3	Devon KaneVamos	72.965
4	Micah DeligdishCarpe Diem de Massa	72.395PB
5	Kristina Harrison-AntellFinley	72.080
6	Ali PotaskyINXS	70.005
7	Nadine SchwartsmanRoyal Flash R	69.585
8	Cyndi JacksonFlorisson	69.515
9	Charlotte JorstNiquel CAP	68.120CB

PB = personal best. CB = combination best.

Unfinished Business

Gino doesn't lose many Freestyles out West. Before tonight, he and Vaughn had won seven of their eight on the West Coast. The one that got away was last year's Final, and clearly, they weren't about to let that happen twice.

Vaughn was 6th in last year's Final Grand Prix on 68.370%. Yesterday, she won the Grand Prix on 69.544%, and tonight she took the title that slipped away 12 months ago.

It's Vaughn's eighth Freestyle win in 12 starts, and it came in her first Freestyle since February. Gino is her only Grand Prix Freestyle horse. Everything she knows about this class, and about this arena, she learned on him. Tonight he handed her its biggest prize.

"I am so happy. I could not be prouder of my horse, and I'm just so glad it was in California."

Geñay Vaughn

Vaughn is the first woman to win the US Equestrian Open of Dressage Final, a month after Sharon White became the first woman to take a US Equestrian Open title of any kind, in eventing.

Champion graphic reading Prince Gino, 2026 champion of the $200,000 US Equestrian Open Dressage Final in Thermal, showing Geñay Vaughn lifting the trophy and riding Gino in extended trot.

Calculated Risks

77.355% is a new personal best for the pair, 0.940 points better than the one they set in Thermal last December. Every judge put them first. At M, the score reached 79.775%, the highest single mark of the night and within a breath of 80. Of all the nights to ride the best test of their lives, they sure picked the right one to do so.

Gino's floorplan doesn't play it safe. It's built around everything he does best and loaded with the kind of risk that only pays off if horse and rider are in sync. They were. Four of the five judges gave 9.1 for degree of difficulty, and nobody else on the podium got near it. The walk was the one place the marks dipped, but at this point, who cares? That's next season's problem. Tonight is for celebrating.

"I was incredibly happy. I think I'm still a little emotional because it was the best test we've ever ridden," Vaughn said.

Geñay Vaughn wipes away tears aboard Gino as they walk out of the arena under the lights in Thermal.

The Chase

Klimke and Dante pulled off the upset of the night. They were 6th on Friday, and the horse's only other Grand Prix Freestyle had produced a 71.110%. Tonight, in his second Freestyle ever and at a CDI5* no less, he scored 75.450%. That's a personal best for horse and rider, and 4.340 points better than the horse's first try.

On Friday, Dante spent part of his Grand Prix convinced there were ghosts in one corner. Tonight he never gave that corner a second look. (The ghosts, apparently, had vacated the premises.)

Dante wasn't the only second-timer to find a new best. Charlotte Jorst and nine-year-old Niquel CAP set a combination best of 68.120% in his second Freestyle, with a piaffe that already stands out.

So what separated Gino and Dante by 1.905 points? A little bit of everything, and a lot of difficulty. Gino was about two-tenths of a mark better per movement on the technical side, and ahead on every artistic mark. Degree of difficulty made the biggest difference, with Gino averaging 9.02 to Dante's 8.54.

Kane and Vamos took 3rd, 2.485 points behind Klimke. Their freestyle had one of the hardest lines of the night, 16 two-tempi changes on a circle straight into a line of one-tempis, and they pulled it off clean. But the test as a whole didn't get the same credit. The degree of difficulty averaged 8.08, behind both Gino and Dante.

The Setlist

Gino's freestyle is Vaughn's tribute to the African-American artists she grew up with, a blend of Barry White, Luther Vandross and Earth, Wind & Fire put together by Terri Gallo. Tonight she rode it to becoming the first person of color to win a US Equestrian Open title.

The judges' music marks reached 9.0 at M, and the crowd liked it even more. Spectator Judging had Gino on 77.693%, a touch above the official 77.355%.

The crowd's other favorite was Nadine Schwartsman and Royal Flash R. They rode to Sia's "Alive" and "Unstoppable," two titles that fit the road this pair took to get here. The ride drew some of the loudest cheers of the night. Spectator Judging put them 3rd on 73.911%, 4.326 points above the judges, who had them 7th on 69.585%.

"I have a pretty significant heart condition, and I wasn't sure if I could ride anymore," Schwartsman said. "We're still working on it, but I can ride. That freestyle is really celebrating that. That we're still here and still doing what we love. And I get to dance with my best friend."

Micah Deligdish and Carpe Diem de Massa debuted a new Mandalorian freestyle, and the floorplan suited a calm, settled horse. They finished 4th on 72.395%, a combination best by 2.785 points and Deligdish's first Grand Prix Freestyle over 70% on any horse. It's also her first international test over 70% at any level.