PrintHarrisburg, Pa., Oct. 22
One stride, one second. That’s the math that rules in a jump-off, and it’s a calculation that worked in Margie Engle’s favor in the $75,000 Grand Prix de Penn National.
Engle did one stride less to the last oxer in the jump-off, opting for eight strides instead of nine, and it made all the difference. She stopped the timers clean in 36.74 seconds—almost a second faster than Mario Deslauriers on Cella. “I could have easily done eight to the last, and my horse is definitely quick enough,” Deslauriers said. “I do kind of regret my decision to add the stride, but at the same time, my horse has jumped beautifully all week and I’m very happy with her.”
Two nights earlier, Cella and Deslauriers won the $40,000 Big Jump.
Engle had chosen not to contest the Big Jump on Indigo, leaving him fresh as could be for the grand prix. “He has so much energy that he’s easy to ride indoors,” Engle said. “His natural impulsion helps him through the turns.”
Course designer Steve Stephens set a track that weeded the 29 starters down to just three for the jump-off. Beezie Madden led the jump-off efforts on her new ride Cortes C. An early rail hampered them, but they turned in a time (36.87 seconds) that set the pace for Deslauriers and Engle. Madden and Cortes did the eight strides to the last fence, showing it could be done. Deslauriers was next in on Cella, a 9-year-old mare, and he didn’t waste any time in the turns. But he took a bit of a pull in that last line, which cost him some time. He finished clean with 37.64 seconds on the scoreboard.
Engle was right on Deslauriers’ pace all around the jump-off track on Indigo, and as she turned for the last, she heard lots of cheers of encouragement from the crowd and kicked on. “I knew what I had to do going in,” she said. “It’s always a huge advantage to go at the end of the class.”
Indigo’s huge stride ate up the distance, and Engle stopped the timers in 36.74 seconds with all the rails in the cups. With that performance, Engle secured a win in one of the few prestigious U.S. grand prix classes that had been missing from her résumé. “I’ve been second here a bunch of times, but I’ve never gotten it done before,” she said.
Danish rider Emilie Martinsen claimed fourth in the class with just 1 time fault in the first round aboard Carisma, a mare who awed the crowd with her effortlessly huge jumping efforts.
Fast Fruit
What’s yellow and… fast? A banana!
But only if it’s Banana d’Ive Z, the feisty chestnut mare Meagan Nusz rode to the top of the Show Jumping Hall of Fame Amateur-Owner Jumper Classic.
As Nusz came in the ring, it looked like Alex Parrish had the class won with a speedy jump-off round on Valentina 156. But Nusz took it to a whole new level with “Banana,” shaving almost 3 seconds off Parrish’s time. “On the way to the last vertical, I was thinking 'Please don’t mess this up,' because I swear I have the last one down in every class. I see the finish line, and I get excited and boom. I was happy to see the finish line without hearing a rail fall. My horse jumped fantastic. I couldn't ask her to be any better,” Nusz said.
