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