Traverse City, Mich. – Aug. 2, 2018 – For the first time ever, the Great Lakes Equestrian Festival (GLEF) is hosting two back-to-back weeks of internationally rated FEI CSI3* competition during Weeks V and VI. Thursday highlighted the $35,000 East Wind Farms Welcome Stake CSI3* in the Grand Prix Ring and was claimed by none other than U.S. Olympic veteran Margie Engle of Wellington, Florida, and Dicas.
Dicas captured his first grand prix win at GLEF with Engle in the $50,000 Grand Traverse Grand Prix CSI2* in 2017. Now, almost exactly one year later, and with much more experience under their belt, the pair are back to their winning ways in Traverse City and in top form heading into two weeks of CSI3* competition at GLEF.
With a total of eight nations represented in Thursday’s international competition, 56 combinations turned out to compete over Mexico’s Manuel Esparza’s first round course, while 19 jumped clear to advance to the jump-off.
Fresh off their big win in the SAP-Prize CSI5* speed class at the prestigious CHIO Aachen World Equestrian Festival in Germany just over one week ago, Engle, who is currently shortlisted on the NetJets® U.S. Show Jumping Team for the FEI World Equestrian Games™, and the 9-year-old Rheinlander owned by Storm Ridge Capital LLC produced the fastest of 13 double-clear performances in 37.54 seconds to earn the win.
Halfway through the jump-off, the first place position was tied between Molly Ashe Cawley (USA) riding Louisburg Farm’s D’Arnita and Santiago Lambre (MEX) aboard his own Ibabco in 39.05 seconds.
Just after Lambre, however, was Mattias Tromp (USA) riding Swede Ventures LLC’s Quinta 106, who crossed the finish line in 37.59 seconds to become the new leader.
Five rounds later and 16th in the order was Engle, who used the gelding’s enormous stride to her advantage, making up just enough time to surpass Tromp in the standings by five-hundredths of a second!
In the end, Tromp settled for second place, while Cawley and Lambre shared third place honors. Roberto Teran Tafur (COL), who claimed the biggest title of the circuit at GLEF in 2017 in the $100,000 Grand Prix of Traverse City CSI3*, and his own Il Rubacuori rounded out the top five in 39.20 seconds.
Week V of GLEF runs through Sunday, Aug. 5, and will host more FEI CSI3* action in the Grand Prix Ring with the $35,000 Grand Traverse Classic CSI3* on Friday and the main event, the $100,000 Grand Traverse Grand Prix CSI3*, on Sunday at 2 p.m. To purchase tickets for Sunday, click here.
Click here to watch Margie Engle’s interview!
FROM THE WINNER’S CIRCLE
Margie Engle (USA) – $35,000 East Wind Farms Welcome Stake CSI3* winner
On Dicas:
“Every time I step him up, he rises to the occasion. He still is very green, he’s just 9 this year. Last year, I had just started doing the grand prix classes when we started here and he was really good but never would have been able to go that fast or turn that quickly. He’s a huge horse. Usually they’re not the fastest but he’s very agile for a big horse. He’s mainly just all legs. He’s got a narrow body and he’s kind of like a daddy longlegs. The fastest I’ve ever gone with him was in the last class I did at Aachen. He was amazing there but it was a lot of long gallops and there weren’t as many turns like we had today.”
On her jump-off round:
“When I watched the others, I thought, ‘There is no way we’re going to catch those fast, smaller horses.’ He just rode so nice. He’s starting to look for the jumps and he turned better than I even thought he was going to. He was so quick across the ground. He got down the first line, from one to two, in seven easily and I was able to catch the last one nice. It actually wasn’t that much of a flyer — he just kept such a nice inside track everywhere.”
On returning to GLEF:
“The restaurants are fantastic, the views are great over the lake and the weather is [amazing]. I can’t think of any place in August I’d rather be. It’s nice and cool out and everywhere else in the world is probably around 100 degrees right now. There are so many pluses with coming here.”
RESULTS
$35,000 East Wind Farms Welcome Stake CSI3*:
Place / Horse / Athlete / Country / Owner / R1 Faults / R2 Faults / Time
1. Dicas / Margie Engle / USA / Storm Ridge Capital LLC / 0 / 0 / 37.54
2. Quinta 106 / Mattias Tromp / USA / Swede Ventures LLC / 0 / 0 / 37.59
3. D’Arnita / Molly Ashe Cawley / USA / Louisburg Farm / 0 / 0 / 39.05
3. Ibabco / Santiago Lambre / MEX / Santiago Lambre / 0 / 0 / 39.05
5. Il Rubacuori / Roberto Teran Tafur / COL / Roberto Teran Tafur / 0 / 0 / 39.20
6. MTF Saint Simeon / Sloane Coles / USA / Morningside Training Farm / 0 / 0 / 39.22
7. Chippendale’s Boy DZ / Sloane Coles / USA / The Springledge Group / 0 / 0 / 39.57
8. Thriller P / Samuel Parot / CHI / Samuel Parot / 0 / 0 / 39.88
9. VDL Bravo S / Hunter Holloway / USA / Hays Investment Corp. / 0 / 0 / 39.96
10. Aanwinst / Jordan MacPherson / CAN / Jem Stables / 0 / 0 / 41.52
11. Valkyrie De Talma / Rachel Cornacchia / CAN / Rachel Cornacchia / 0 / 0 / 41.67
12. Very Chic Du Tillard / Peter Lutz / USA / Gallagher/Meller Sport Horses / 0 / 0 / 42.13
Sloane Coles Is Two-For-Two in Staller 1.40m Jumpers
The Great Lakes Equestrian Festival (GLEF) returned to the Flintfields Horse Park for Week V of the 2018 circuit on Wednesday, kicking off CSI3* competition with the $6,000 Staller 1.40m Jumper CSI3* class in the Grand Prix Ring.
For the second week in a row, it was Sloane Coles (USA) who took home the top prize, this time aboard Catherine Brentzel’s Copia. During Week IV, Coles also won the Staller 1.40m Jumper CSI2* class with MTF Saint Simeon, owned by Morningside Training Farm.
The 30-year-old professional athlete, who owns and operates Springledge LLC based in The Plains, Virginia, jumped clear and outraced a total of 35 international horses and athletes with the 11-year-old Warmblood mare in the one-round speed competition to secure the blue ribbon in 64.33 seconds.
Ten other combinations jumped fault-free over the Manuel Esparza-designed course, but it was Peter Lutz (USA) who finished with runner-up honors aboard Camillo VDL, owned by Gallagher/Meller Sport Horses.
Lutz held the lead for the majority of the class as fifth in the order-of-go, clocking in at 67.40 seconds, until Coles bested his time by three full seconds to take over the top spot on the leaderboard as 23rd in the order.
Rounding out the top three in Wednesday’s featured international show jumping event at GLEF was Mary Manfredi (USA) and Excellent, owned by Bosch Sport Horses, who crossed the finish line just four-tenths of a second slower than Lutz in 67.86 seconds.
RESULTS
$6,000 Staller 1.40m Jumper CSI3*:
Place / Horse / Athlete / Country / Owner / R1 Faults / Time
1. Copia / Sloane Coles / USA / Catherine Brentzel / 0 / 64.33
2. Camillo VDL / Peter Lutz / USA / Gallagher/Meller Sport Horses / 0 / 67.40
3. Excellent / Mary Manfredi / USA / Bosch Sport Horses / 0 / 67.86
4. Zorran / Erynn Ballard / CAN / Ilan Ferder / 0 / 68.10
5. Boucanier / Theo Genn / USA / Taylor Reid / 0 / 69.18
6. Fee Des Sequoias Z / Juan Gallego / COL / Juan Gallego / 0 / 69.25
7. Cosa Nostra / Daniel Michan / MEX / Daniel Michan / 0 / 69.62
8. Express Blue GP Dubois Madame / Caitlyn Connors / USA / Caitlyn Connors / 0 / 69.76
9. Bonzay / Jonathon Millar / CAN / Isotropic Networks Inc. / 0 / 70.67
10. Bugatti / Wilhelm Genn / GER / Eduardo Leon / 0 / 72.58
11. Dirocco Blue / Wilhelm Genn / GER / Eduardo Leon / 0 / 76.50
12. Capito Z / Peter Leone / USA / Capito Group LLC / 1 / 80.16
