Engle Earns Top Honors At Rolex/USEF National Show Jumping Championship

The year started out tough for Margie Engle. Just before last year’s winter circuit her long-time partner Hidden Creek’s Wapino died following complications from colic surgery. The timing coincided with the sale of a few of Engle’s other contenders, so for the first time in 20 years the 10-time AGA Rider Of The Year found herself without a Sunday mount for the Winter Equestrian Festival (Fla.)—let alone a prospect for the Olympic Trials.
 
But Engle finished off her season with a big win, capturing the $125,000 Rolex/USEF National Show Jumping Championship at Holiday And Horses, Dec. 3-7, in Wellington, Fla. The championship comprised two rounds: the $40,000 Holiday And Horses Opener and the $60,000 Holiday And Horses CSI-W Grand Prix.

Engle and the lightning-quick Hidden Creek’s Pamina L stopped the clock fastest in the Opener—a speed class—but dropped two rails to finish fourth, while Todd Minikus and Pavarotti picked up the top check. Kent Farrington and Up Chiqui outran Russian Ljubov Kochetov and Aslan in the jump-off for the grand prix to win their third World Cup qualifier of the season. Engle and her most experienced mount Hidden Creek’s Quervo Gold tallied 8 faults to finish ninth, good enough to boost her to the national title with 44 points over rising stars Kirsten Coe and Starlight, who finished with 42 points.

With the points spread out and plenty of international riders (who are ineligible for the championship) competing in both classes, it wasn’t immediately clear who picked up the $25,000 check that accompanied the title.

“I was surprised to hear I’d won,” said Engle. “When you’re in the ring you just think about the class you’re doing—you can’t lose focus by dwelling on anything else. They were both good, fair courses, and it was a great way to finish up the year.”

With Quervo, Engle’s 2006 World Equestrian Games mount, as the only seasoned grand prix horse in her string, the Wellington, Fla., rider spent much of the year focused on her up-and-comers, saving Quervo for her biggest classes. Engle couldn’t have been happier with Pamina, who started the year in the 1.30-meter classes, and picked up eight grand prix victories by the end of the season. And when Quervo came down with a mild fever on President’s Cup day at the Washington International Horse Show (D.C.), Engle saddled up Pamina as a replacement, placing fourth in excellent company.
 
“When we got her we told [owner] Mike [Polaski] that she’d be a great competitor,” said Engle. “She seems to have a lot of heart, and she’s done everything I’ve asked her to. I keep testing her along the way to see where she is, and she keeps rising to the challenge. Friday was her first time going under lights, and she was super.”

Before Engle started with Pamina (Pontifex—Hauptstutbuch Power Jumper) the Westphalian hadn’t spent much time competing, having served as a broodmare. But the mare proved a quick study, making a mark in speed classes as well as the grand prix arena.