Engle adds to her list of records by becoming the only rider to win the Cleveland Grand Prix 10 times.
View full sizeMargie Engle dominated the show-jumping competition at the Cleveland Grand Prix on Sunday, taking first and second place.Marge Fernbacher / Special to The Plain Dealer
MORELAND HILLS, Ohio — Margie Engle was doubly good in the show jumping competition on Sunday, taking first- and second-place honors in the $30,000 Cleveland Grand Prix, the feature event of the six-day Chagrin Valley Hunter Jumper Classic.
Only nine entries out of a starting field of 21 horses completed the demanding first-round obstacle course without penalty faults.
Returning to the ring for the tie-breaking jump-off, leadoff rider Debbie Stephens of Palmetto, Fla., set the pace with a faultless ride in 37.76 seconds on Centennial Farm's All Star. Her lead was overtaken by Engle aboard Gladewinds Farm's Indigo, who crossed the wire fault-free in 35.39 seconds, a time that proved unbeatable.
Competing in the eighth spot in the order on her second mount, Hidden Creek's Pamina L, Engle missed the mark by a fraction of a second, finishing in 35.406 for second place. Stephens' time was good for third place, and Chuck Waters of Sparr, Fla., finished fourth on his mount, 747, with a jump-off time of 38.72.
Fifth place went to Lake Erie College graduate Jill Knowles on Lisa Greenspon's Timberly, and sixth went to Page Johnson on Chiron S, owned by Salamander Farm of The Plains, Virginia.
Engle, of Wellington, Florida, was pleased with her mounts.
"I just bought Indigo in Australia in March, and it was very difficult getting him here, but he's been great to ride. I have to contain him a little," she said, "or he tends to get too eager. Pamina is actually the faster of the two."
Engle added to her list of records by becoming the only rider to win the Cleveland Grand Prix 10 times.
Marge Fernbacher is a freelance writer in Willoughby Hills.
