Margie
Engle and Hidden Creek’s Wapino Unbeatable in $75,000 Bainbridge
Idle Dice Classic at 2006 Winter Equestrian Festival
Wellington,
FL – February 19, 2006 – A near record crowd of 11,784 enthusiastic
and animated show jumping fans packed into every available space at
the Internationale Arena on Sunday afternoon at the Winter Equestrian
Festival. They watched and cheered as their hometown hero, Margie Engle,
raced to an electrifying victory in the main event.
The Bainbridge Florida Classic/WCHR Spectacular CSI 3*, presented by the Palm Beach Post, wrapped up week four of the thirty-fourth annual Winter Equestrian Festival. Sunday’s feature, the $75,000 Bainbridge Idle Dice Classic Grand Prix CSI-W was scored under FEI rules for World Cup and under FEI Table A mixed, Art. 238.2.2. Time first Jump-Off.
Forty-five starters went to the post for the 2 p.m. start. Jose “Pepe” Gamarra of Bolivia designed the test for today’s grand prix. Of the forty-five that started, five produced clean rounds to qualify for the timed tiebreaker. Three additional competitors jumped clean but exceeded the snug time allowed and finished with a single time fault. Eight riders had a single knockdown, while six had two rails and sixteen had three or more. Seven of the horse and rider combinations elected to withdraw or were eliminated. Twenty-four of the forty-five starters picked up time faults.
Riding out of the second spot in the order, Wellington’s Margie Engle and Hidden Creek’s Wapino, owned by the Hidden Creek Farms, were the first to master the track. They were followed ten horses later by Olympic Gold Medalist Beezie Madden and Abigail Wexner’s Authentic. Another dozen competitors went by before Cara Raether became the third to qualify for the speed phase. Riding twenty-seventh on the roster, she was clear on Quilano de Kalvarie, owned by the Trelawny Farms. Three horses later, Canada’s Mario Deslauriers added his own mount Paradigm to the list. The jump-off field was then set when Markus Beerbaum, the forty-fifth to compete, went clear with Mr. and Mrs. Bertram Firestone’s Constantin 24.
Engle and Hidden Creek’s Wapino returned first and set a standard that none of the remaining four competitors could catch. Engle toured the shortened speed course fault free and was under the wire in 39.88 seconds.
Madden and Authentic, winners of Friday’s WEF Challenge Cup, caught Engle’s time but also caught the rail at fence 15 in the jump-off. Madden cruised home with four faults in 38.71 seconds.
Following Raether’s slower four fault jump-off ride in 42.80 seconds, Deslauriers and Paradigm took over second place with the second clear ride in the tiebreaker. His time was 41.92 seconds.
Beerbaum gave it a heck of a go at the end but pulled the pole at fence 5c and finished in 39.59 seconds.
“You never go in and think you can’t be beaten,” said Engle following her win. “Every one of those riders, on any given day, could have beaten me.”
“I didn’t love the position,” said Engle. “He’s been right there in every class but I thought this was a tough course to go early. But in the jump-off, I knew there were a lot of fast riders behind me, so I thought I had to take as big a shot as I could and hope he would leave the jumps up. I haven’t gone that fast with this horse that many times. He’s still pretty green,” she admitted.
“He handled it pretty well. He got a little nervous at the end, he wasn’t sure what I wanted him to do with all the galloping. He got a little afraid of me when I was galloping and landing off the one jump. I felt him looking back at me, wondering what I wanted him to do,” she laughed. “Usually when I’m landing, I’m trying to relax him, but today off the skinny vertical, I decided to take a shot to the last fence and when I landed and started kicking he was kind of saying ‘What are you asking me to do?’ But, he finished great,” she said. “He’s got a lot of scope and a lot of heart. He really tried hard for me today.”
“Yeah,
I heard the roar of the crowd when Margie went clear and fast,”
said Deslauriers. “And then, two or three went before me with
four faults, so my plan was to go with an efficient clear round. My
horse isn’t that quick, and he’s just coming back into form.
He hasn’t jumped since October last year, and he’s only
jumped a few weeks here,” he said. “Now he seems like he’s
really getting in gear.”
Engle knew the hometown crowd was one her side all the way through. “It’s a great feeling. It’s fantastic. It gives me a little extra boost when I ride here in Wellington,” she said with a smile. “When I walk in and until I’m finished, I focus on what I’m doing. I don’t hear much of anything, but when I’m crossing the finish line I hear them, and it’s really a good feeling to know they’re behind you. They’re a great crowd, and I think they’ve really become educated over the years, so it’s very exciting,” she said.
Both riders were very happy with Jose Gamarra’s course today. “I thought it was a good course today,” said Delauriers. “There were a couple options here and there. I think he built a good track. There were a lot of places to get faults. I thought it was very fair. There were actually three others clear with a time fault, so I think the time allowed was just right, tight enough to push the ride just a bit to cause faults to happen.”
Engle agreed. “I thought it was a good course, too. We’ve had killer courses the past couple weeks, so I thought it was kind of nice when I walked it,” she said. “I thought it was very technical and tricky in spots, but after last week it was a treat. It was a thinking course, but not a killer course.” She went on to say, “The horses can’t take jumping courses like we jumped last week every week. So it was nice to make it difficult in different ways, like with the tight time allowed.”
“I got lucky again,” laughed Gamarra following the class. “I thought I did a good job. My intention this week was to make everything a little more fun for everybody. The course was tough enough, it asked enough questions, but today they seemed to jump better, more comfortable, and that was my plan.”
The triple combination at 5a-b-c, accounted for 36 penalties throughout the class today and Gamarra explained, “The triple combination is always a tough test. I originally was going to do three doubles but the course designer last week did that.”
“Today, more than the triple itself, was the question of the distance coming from the oxer at 4 to the triple,” he detailed. “That distance from there gave everyone a different idea on how to approach the combination. You noticed many times the A came down, or with a bad approach, they got the C coming out. But that wasn’t the distances inside the triple. They were very normal. The problem was really the distance coming into the triple.”
With today’s win, Engle is at the top of the charts for the World Cup Finals in April. “I have to decide who I can take to Kuala Lumpur,” she said. “This horse (Wapino), I’m not sure is suited to a tight indoor setting, so I’d have to see what the facility is like, and Hidden Creek’s Perin, I don’t want to send that far. So, I’m not sure. Maybe Hidden Creek’s Alibi or Quervo Gold would be the two possibilities for the World Cup Finals,” she said.
Today’s $75,000 Bainbridge Idle Dice Classic was the eighth of fourteen qualifying events for the FTI Rider Challenge, a rider bonus pool for $200,000 in which the riders receive points based on the number of riders in the seven Thursday and seven Sunday Grand Prix events that are part of the WEF Wellington series. And for Deslauriers, it’s a matter of keeping front runner Beezie Madden in his sights. “She’s kind of running away with it a little bit,” Deslauriers admitted. “But still, I’m staying close enough that you never know. We still have three weeks to go, six events left, so anything can still happen.”
Next week’s show jumping action, the fifth week in Wellington, is highlighted by the $25,000 MJS Dealerships WEF Challenge Cup Series, Round V, CSI 3* on Thursday and
the $100,000 Zada Enterprises, LLC Masters Cup, CSI-W, one of two remaining World Cup qualifiers, on Sunday. The following week, March 1-5, 2006, the Global Champions Tour makes its worldwide debut at the Wellington Open CSI 5* presented by Cosequin.
Results of Class 100 $75,000 Bainbridge Idle Dice Classic CSI-W -Bainbridge Florida Classic – Internationale Arena – 2/19/06
1 2377 MARGIE ENGLE USA H C'S WAPINO 0.00 77.50 0.00 39.88 $22500
HIDDEN CREEK FARM
2 2285 MARIO DESLAURIERS CAN PARADIGM 0.00 78.03 0.00 41.92 $16500
MARIO DESLAURIERS
3 2503 BEEZIE MADDEN USA AUTHENTIC 0.00 77.86 4.00 38.71 $9750
ABIGAIL S. WEXNER
4 2873 MARKUS BEERBAUM GER CONSTANTIN 24 0.00 75.26 4.00 39.59 $6000
BERTRAM FIRESTONE
5 14 CARA RAETHER USA QUILANO DE KALVARIE 0.00 78.89 4.00 42.80 $4500
TRELAWNY FARM
6 1364 KEN BERKLEY USA CARLOS BOY 1.00 79.74 $3750
RIVERS EDGE GROUP
7 183 KIMBERLY PRINCE USA COULETTO K. JAMES 1.00 79.77 $3000
OVERLOOK FARM
8 3630 SANTIAGO LAMBRE MEX CAMPINO 1.00 80.41 $2250
SANTIAGO LAMBRE
9 1270 MCLAIN WARD USA GOLDIKA 559 4.00 75.35 $2250
DOUBLE H FARM
10 2775 JIMMY TORANO USA ORMSBY HILL 4.00 75.56 $1500
JIMMY TORANO
11 2573 KATIE PRUDENT FRA WANNAHORSE OLANTA 4.00 77.28 $1500
PLAIN BAY FARM
12 1694 LAUREN HOUGH USA CASADORA 4.00 77.30 $1500
LAURA MATEO
From www.StadiumJumping.com
Photos:©professionalsphoto.com
Wellington,
FL – February 19, 2006 – A near record crowd of 11,784 enthusiastic
and animated show jumping fans packed into every available space at
the Internationale Arena on Sunday afternoon at the Winter Equestrian
Festival. They watched and cheered as their hometown hero, Margie Engle,
raced to an electrifying victory in the main event.The Bainbridge Florida Classic/WCHR Spectacular CSI 3*, presented by the Palm Beach Post, wrapped up week four of the thirty-fourth annual Winter Equestrian Festival. Sunday’s feature, the $75,000 Bainbridge Idle Dice Classic Grand Prix CSI-W was scored under FEI rules for World Cup and under FEI Table A mixed, Art. 238.2.2. Time first Jump-Off.
Forty-five starters went to the post for the 2 p.m. start. Jose “Pepe” Gamarra of Bolivia designed the test for today’s grand prix. Of the forty-five that started, five produced clean rounds to qualify for the timed tiebreaker. Three additional competitors jumped clean but exceeded the snug time allowed and finished with a single time fault. Eight riders had a single knockdown, while six had two rails and sixteen had three or more. Seven of the horse and rider combinations elected to withdraw or were eliminated. Twenty-four of the forty-five starters picked up time faults.
Riding out of the second spot in the order, Wellington’s Margie Engle and Hidden Creek’s Wapino, owned by the Hidden Creek Farms, were the first to master the track. They were followed ten horses later by Olympic Gold Medalist Beezie Madden and Abigail Wexner’s Authentic. Another dozen competitors went by before Cara Raether became the third to qualify for the speed phase. Riding twenty-seventh on the roster, she was clear on Quilano de Kalvarie, owned by the Trelawny Farms. Three horses later, Canada’s Mario Deslauriers added his own mount Paradigm to the list. The jump-off field was then set when Markus Beerbaum, the forty-fifth to compete, went clear with Mr. and Mrs. Bertram Firestone’s Constantin 24.
Engle and Hidden Creek’s Wapino returned first and set a standard that none of the remaining four competitors could catch. Engle toured the shortened speed course fault free and was under the wire in 39.88 seconds.
Madden and Authentic, winners of Friday’s WEF Challenge Cup, caught Engle’s time but also caught the rail at fence 15 in the jump-off. Madden cruised home with four faults in 38.71 seconds.
Following Raether’s slower four fault jump-off ride in 42.80 seconds, Deslauriers and Paradigm took over second place with the second clear ride in the tiebreaker. His time was 41.92 seconds.
Beerbaum gave it a heck of a go at the end but pulled the pole at fence 5c and finished in 39.59 seconds.
“You never go in and think you can’t be beaten,” said Engle following her win. “Every one of those riders, on any given day, could have beaten me.”
“I didn’t love the position,” said Engle. “He’s been right there in every class but I thought this was a tough course to go early. But in the jump-off, I knew there were a lot of fast riders behind me, so I thought I had to take as big a shot as I could and hope he would leave the jumps up. I haven’t gone that fast with this horse that many times. He’s still pretty green,” she admitted.
“He handled it pretty well. He got a little nervous at the end, he wasn’t sure what I wanted him to do with all the galloping. He got a little afraid of me when I was galloping and landing off the one jump. I felt him looking back at me, wondering what I wanted him to do,” she laughed. “Usually when I’m landing, I’m trying to relax him, but today off the skinny vertical, I decided to take a shot to the last fence and when I landed and started kicking he was kind of saying ‘What are you asking me to do?’ But, he finished great,” she said. “He’s got a lot of scope and a lot of heart. He really tried hard for me today.”
“Yeah,
I heard the roar of the crowd when Margie went clear and fast,”
said Deslauriers. “And then, two or three went before me with
four faults, so my plan was to go with an efficient clear round. My
horse isn’t that quick, and he’s just coming back into form.
He hasn’t jumped since October last year, and he’s only
jumped a few weeks here,” he said. “Now he seems like he’s
really getting in gear.”Engle knew the hometown crowd was one her side all the way through. “It’s a great feeling. It’s fantastic. It gives me a little extra boost when I ride here in Wellington,” she said with a smile. “When I walk in and until I’m finished, I focus on what I’m doing. I don’t hear much of anything, but when I’m crossing the finish line I hear them, and it’s really a good feeling to know they’re behind you. They’re a great crowd, and I think they’ve really become educated over the years, so it’s very exciting,” she said.
Both riders were very happy with Jose Gamarra’s course today. “I thought it was a good course today,” said Delauriers. “There were a couple options here and there. I think he built a good track. There were a lot of places to get faults. I thought it was very fair. There were actually three others clear with a time fault, so I think the time allowed was just right, tight enough to push the ride just a bit to cause faults to happen.”
Engle agreed. “I thought it was a good course, too. We’ve had killer courses the past couple weeks, so I thought it was kind of nice when I walked it,” she said. “I thought it was very technical and tricky in spots, but after last week it was a treat. It was a thinking course, but not a killer course.” She went on to say, “The horses can’t take jumping courses like we jumped last week every week. So it was nice to make it difficult in different ways, like with the tight time allowed.”
“I got lucky again,” laughed Gamarra following the class. “I thought I did a good job. My intention this week was to make everything a little more fun for everybody. The course was tough enough, it asked enough questions, but today they seemed to jump better, more comfortable, and that was my plan.”
The triple combination at 5a-b-c, accounted for 36 penalties throughout the class today and Gamarra explained, “The triple combination is always a tough test. I originally was going to do three doubles but the course designer last week did that.”
“Today, more than the triple itself, was the question of the distance coming from the oxer at 4 to the triple,” he detailed. “That distance from there gave everyone a different idea on how to approach the combination. You noticed many times the A came down, or with a bad approach, they got the C coming out. But that wasn’t the distances inside the triple. They were very normal. The problem was really the distance coming into the triple.”
With today’s win, Engle is at the top of the charts for the World Cup Finals in April. “I have to decide who I can take to Kuala Lumpur,” she said. “This horse (Wapino), I’m not sure is suited to a tight indoor setting, so I’d have to see what the facility is like, and Hidden Creek’s Perin, I don’t want to send that far. So, I’m not sure. Maybe Hidden Creek’s Alibi or Quervo Gold would be the two possibilities for the World Cup Finals,” she said.
Today’s $75,000 Bainbridge Idle Dice Classic was the eighth of fourteen qualifying events for the FTI Rider Challenge, a rider bonus pool for $200,000 in which the riders receive points based on the number of riders in the seven Thursday and seven Sunday Grand Prix events that are part of the WEF Wellington series. And for Deslauriers, it’s a matter of keeping front runner Beezie Madden in his sights. “She’s kind of running away with it a little bit,” Deslauriers admitted. “But still, I’m staying close enough that you never know. We still have three weeks to go, six events left, so anything can still happen.”
 Margie Engle |
 oMario Deslauriers |
Next week’s show jumping action, the fifth week in Wellington, is highlighted by the $25,000 MJS Dealerships WEF Challenge Cup Series, Round V, CSI 3* on Thursday and
the $100,000 Zada Enterprises, LLC Masters Cup, CSI-W, one of two remaining World Cup qualifiers, on Sunday. The following week, March 1-5, 2006, the Global Champions Tour makes its worldwide debut at the Wellington Open CSI 5* presented by Cosequin.
Results of Class 100 $75,000 Bainbridge Idle Dice Classic CSI-W -Bainbridge Florida Classic – Internationale Arena – 2/19/06
1 2377 MARGIE ENGLE USA H C'S WAPINO 0.00 77.50 0.00 39.88 $22500
HIDDEN CREEK FARM
2 2285 MARIO DESLAURIERS CAN PARADIGM 0.00 78.03 0.00 41.92 $16500
MARIO DESLAURIERS
3 2503 BEEZIE MADDEN USA AUTHENTIC 0.00 77.86 4.00 38.71 $9750
ABIGAIL S. WEXNER
4 2873 MARKUS BEERBAUM GER CONSTANTIN 24 0.00 75.26 4.00 39.59 $6000
BERTRAM FIRESTONE
5 14 CARA RAETHER USA QUILANO DE KALVARIE 0.00 78.89 4.00 42.80 $4500
TRELAWNY FARM
6 1364 KEN BERKLEY USA CARLOS BOY 1.00 79.74 $3750
RIVERS EDGE GROUP
7 183 KIMBERLY PRINCE USA COULETTO K. JAMES 1.00 79.77 $3000
OVERLOOK FARM
8 3630 SANTIAGO LAMBRE MEX CAMPINO 1.00 80.41 $2250
SANTIAGO LAMBRE
9 1270 MCLAIN WARD USA GOLDIKA 559 4.00 75.35 $2250
DOUBLE H FARM
10 2775 JIMMY TORANO USA ORMSBY HILL 4.00 75.56 $1500
JIMMY TORANO
11 2573 KATIE PRUDENT FRA WANNAHORSE OLANTA 4.00 77.28 $1500
PLAIN BAY FARM
12 1694 LAUREN HOUGH USA CASADORA 4.00 77.30 $1500
LAURA MATEO
From www.StadiumJumping.com
Photos:©professionalsphoto.com