Margie Engle Continues March to Rio with Fifth Place Finish in $225,000 Longines Grand Prix of La Baule | USET Foundation
 

Margie Engle Continues March to Rio with Fifth Place Finish in $225,000 Longines Grand Prix of La Baule

 

La Baule, France – May 15, 2016 – The U.S. Show Jumping Team traveled to La Baule, France for the first of four observation events, which will determine the team for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio. On Friday, the team scored the second place prize during the Nations Cup event thanks to double clear rounds by Margie Engle and Lucy Davis. On Sunday, Margie Engle went on to be the highest ranked American in the $225,000 Longines Grand Prix of La Baule with Elm Rock Partners LLC’s Royce.

Eleven combinations qualified for the tiebreaker, and it was Engle and Royce who were first to attempt the jump-off, setting the target with a clear round in 39.44 seconds.

“Royce felt amazing all week,” expressed Engle. “Since we went first in the jump-off, our plan was to just go around like it was a tight time allowed and not go too crazy. He’s in such a good place right now l did not want to undo anything.”

Their round put the pressure on the remaining riders, including Lucy Davis and Barron, who had a single rail to place eighth with a time of 37.50 seconds. The winning effort belonged to Belgium’s Jérôme Guery and Grand Cru Van De Rozenberg, breaking the beam at 35.74 seconds. France’s Penelope Leprevost was just shy of the leading time on Flora De Mariposa, clearing the course in 36.19 seconds. Germany’s Meredith Micahels-Beerbaum rounded out the top three with Fibonacci 17, double clear in 38.05 seconds.

For Engle, the fifth place finish has been a continuation of a consistent show season during the Winter Equestrian Festival, including top 10 finishes in four of the WEF Challenge Cups. After recently being named to the short list of the Games, Engle has turned her attention to Rio.

“Lisa Wilcox helped us with some great dressage work the last few weeks,” she explained. “It also helped to get him physically fitter with both of us working him and seems to have really improved his rideability too.

“Royce is an amazing horse and an honor to ride and felt like he just kept jumping better all week,” she added. “l think only he and one other horse were the only double  clear in both the nations cup and grand prix, so l couldn’t be happier with him.”

Engle concluded, “I want to thank the awesome team who has helped us get the best out of Royce for this great week and especially the Suttons and DeMartinis -without all of them this week would never have been possible.”

RESULTS:

1.        048        GRAND CRU VAN DE ROZENBERG        GUERY Jérôme     bel            0        81.17 sec        0        35.74 sec
2.        078        FLORA DE MARIPOSA        LEPREVOST Penelope     fra            0        78.96 sec        0        36.19 sec
3.        009        FIBONACCI 17        MICHAELS-BEERBAUM Meredith     ger            0        82.51 sec        0        38.05 sec
4.        148        FERNANDO        PALS Johnny     ned            0        79.96 sec        0        38.14 sec
5.        068        ROYCE        GOLDSTEIN-ENGLE Margie     usa            0        76.63 sec        0        39.44 sec
6.        114        SEA COAST PEBBLES Z        PATTEET Gudrun     bel            0        82.59 sec        0        39.52 sec
7.        081        CON DIOS III        LOPEZ Rene     col            0        82.98 sec        4        37.05 sec
8.        031        BARRON        DAVIS Lucy     usa            0        80.29 sec        4        37.50 sec
9.        053        ROMANOV        ALLEN Bertram     irl            0        82.55 sec        4        38.30 sec
10.        050        SAXO DE LA COUR        ANGOT Cedric     fra            0        81.35 sec        4        38.87 sec
11.        096        ELKY VAN HET INDIHOF HDC        STAUT Kevin     fra            0        79.07 sec        8        35.80 sec
12.        045        PREMIERE CARTHOES BZ        AMARAL Felipe     bra            4        79.58 sec

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