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Olympian Margie Engle Wins
$10,000 Welcome Stake At HITS Catskills Season Opener |
ELLENVILLE, NY (May 23, 2001)--Olympian Margie
Engle, 43, of Wellington, Florida, riding Reggae bested a field of 21 riders at
HITS Catskills in Ellenville, New York, today, to win the $10,000 Open Jumper
Welcome Stake on opening day of the six-event summer series. Engle also placed
fourth with Hidden Creek's Alvaretto, her mount from the World Cup Final in
Sweden last month. Reggae's win today brought home $3,000 for owner Robert
Pergament. Paul Duffy of Claregalway, Ireland, was the course designer.
Rain had soaked the show grounds since Monday, but the all-weather rings
withstood the downpours. "The footing is great," commented Engle.
"With this rain, most places would have been a real mess. You didn't see
any of the horses slipping or having trouble with the footing. It held up
really nice." Course Designer Duffy said that he did not have to adjust
his design to accommodate the rain. "These sand arenas actually jump
better with a lot of rain. If the weather's fine, we water them to keep them
compacted. The footing was absolutely perfect today."
The $10,000 Welcome Stake is conducted and scored under Table II.2.b, which
requires riders to jump the Round One course, and if they are clear,
immediately jump the Jump-Off course. Duffy built a 10-element Round One that
included a double at Fence No. 4 and a triple at Fence No. 6 with Time Allowed
set at 71 seconds. Eleven riders rode clean first rounds and stayed on the
field to jump the six-obstacle short course that had Time Allowed set at 42
seconds.
Of the clears, the first eight all had faults in their Jump-Off round. Ninth to
go was Michael Dorman riding Quriel who had the first clear round and set the
Jump Off pace at 39.047 seconds. He held the lead over the next rider, but then
Engle rocketed around the course on Reggae for a clean trip in 33.869, almost
five seconds faster. Dorman, who rode four horses in this class, had one more
opportunity to come back and take the lead with Dumbo de Chapelle, the last
horse on course, but he had a rail in Round One and did not move on to the
Jump-Off, giving Engle the win. Dorman placed second with Quriel, the only
other double clear of the field, taking home $2,200 for owner/trainer Wyndmont
Inc. and Ronnie Beard. Third place went to Vanessa Stevenson on her Fortunato
who was fast at 34.654, but had the unfortunate last rail down in the jump-off,
earning $1,500.
Engle said she has jumped Duffy's courses in Europe and the U.S. many times and
commented, "I think he's a great course designer."
Reggae is a 16.3-hand, 12-year-old Holsteiner gelding by Ramiro out of a Lady
Killer mare "He's probably one of my fastest horses," said Engle who
has been riding Reggae for three years. "He's a really fun horse to ride.
He's just naturally very quick, very careful, and very sweet around the barn.
He really enjoys what he's doing. He turns great, he's ready right through the
turns everywhere, and jumps well at a faster pace. A lot of horses get a little
flat but he seems to thrive on going fast. He's probably the fastest one I've
had since Saluut a long time ago. A lot of horses don't like going fast and
they don't stay as careful. He almost gets sharper when he goes fast."
Engle plans to ride Reggae in the $100,000 EMO Grand Prix on Sunday, May 27,
but until then he won't compete. Reggae had a bout with pneumonia following the
Olympic selection trials last summer and has only recently returned to the show
ring. "I'll just hack him now until Sunday," said Engle. "I'm
going to see what they build. I'm bringing him back slow." Today was
Reggae's first day back in competition since his Grand Prix win two weeks ago
at a show in Atlanta.
Hidden Creek's Alvaretto, Engle's fourth place horse today, was also her mount
at the 1999 Pan American Games in Canada where the U.S. won the team Silver.
"Alvaretto needs to show a little more. He hasn't shown since the World
Cup in Sweden. He was a little high-strung today. He's a very competitive
horse. He's getting a little bit older now--he's 15--but that's not making him
any quieter, that's for sure. When I asked him to go fast, he was charging at
the jumps." Alvaretto had four faults and took home $1,000 for owner
Hidden Creek Farm, also the owners of Engle's mount at the 2000 Sydney
Olympics, Hidden Creek's Perin. Engle rode Perin to a 10th place tie in the
Individual competition and 6th place in the Team competition at the Olympic
Games.
Engle brought 20 horses to HITS Catskills to compete during the first two weeks
and plans to return to Ellenville for as much of the remaining four events as
she can schedule. She commented that the prize money was a draw not only for
riders, but possibly for spectators too. "It's hard in our country to
build [spectatorship] up. It would be nice to get more spectators out there.
It's always nice to have a good crowd. The riders always enjoy it--competing
with the crowd behind you out there."
Duffy watched Engle's rounds today and commented, "She's a class
rider--Margie is class. Margie's done it all, all down the years." Duffy,
65, is a veteran of more than 30 years of international course designing. This
is his third trip to HITS Catskills and he said he liked the new fences in the
Grand Prix field. "The new fences are very European--light rails and small
rails fall easier. I'm all for that because the real clean horse can get the
chance to come out on top. The old heavy poles and deep cups, you can rub and
they stay, but you touch these new ones and they're on the ground. You really
don't have to be as big as you used to in the olden days. It's a little bit
more technical now. This is the trend for the last seven or eight years.
'Technical' is a lovely word. All it means to old boys like me is that it's
just a wrong distance and the riders have to handle it. [For example] we used
to go 60 feet, now we go 58 or we go 61 or 62. We stretch the horses and we
shorten the horses. So I'm half joking, half meaning it when I say, all we do
is build wrong distances."
Duffy will be the course designer for Sunday's $100,000 EMO Grand Prix and said
that the high stakes prize money is a definite influence on how he will build
the course. "Money talks all languages. The riders expect this. They'll be
motivated. They know you're not going to jump the $100,000 the same as you
jumped the $10,000 today. It's a different ball game altogether."
$10,000 Open Jumper Welcome Stake, May 23, 2001
HITS Catskills, Ellenville, New York
Course Designer: Paul Duffy
Pl#/Horse/Rider/Owner/Prize Money/Rd 1/ Rd 2/Faults/J-O Time
1/Reggae/Margie Engle/Robert Pergament/$3,000/0-0/33.869
2/Quriel /Michael Dorman/Wyndmont Inc/$2,200/0-0/39.047
3/Fortunato/Vanessa Stevenson/Vanessa Stevenson/$1,500/0-4-/34.654
4/Hidden Creek's Alvaretto/Margie Engle/Hidden Creek Farm/$1,000/0-4/35.553
5/Kinetic/Debbie Dolan-Sweeney/Sagamore Farm/Debbie Dolan/$800/0-4/35.746
6/Roscoe/Mark Jungherr /RA Francoeur/$600/0-4/37.719
7/Diaka De Semilly/Isabelle LaPierre/La Chaudiere Farm/$500 /0-4/39.347
8/Cobra de Garred/Michael Dorman/Caroline Lloyd/$400/0-8/37.007
Number of horses who competed in this class: 21
Class Prize Money: $10,000
HITS CATSKILLS 2001 SHOW DATES:
HITS Catskills I, May 23-27
HITS Catskills II, May 30-June 3
HITS Catskills III, July 18-22
HITS Catskills IV, July 25-29
HITS Catskills V, August 1-5
HITS Catskills VI, August 29-September 2
FEATURED EVENTS:
May 27 $100,000 EMO Grand Prix 1pm
June 3 $100,000 Nevele Grande Grand Prix 1pm
July 22 $100,000 Avis Grand Prix 1pm
July 29 $100,000 Cosequin® Grand Prix 1pm
August 5 $100,000 Nevele Grande Grand Prix 1pm
September 2 $100,000 Rio Vista Grand Prix 1pm
SPECIAL EVENTS:
July 22 Taste of the Hudson Valley For Exhibitors Only 2pm-4pm
July 29 Kids Day 11am-1pm
www.HitsShows.com
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