December 2, 2006

Hometown Hero Margie Engle Wins Second Speed Class at 123rd National Horse Show and Family Festival

Wellington, FL – Margie Engle of Wellington, FL, picked up her second win of the week at the 123rd National Horse Show and Family Festival (NHS). Riding Hidden Creek’s Calippo 12, Engle blazed around the $10,000 NHS Open Speed Stake, CSI for the win over McLain Ward and Darragh Kerins. Engle won earlier this week in another speed class on Hidden Creek’s Wapino.

The NHS Open Speed Stake was a Timed First Round with faults converted into seconds. The fault accrued for penalties such as rails down or refusals were added to the rider’s time on course for a final score. Today’s course was designed by Jose Gamarra of Bolivia. The course was inviting and asked riders to show their speed. There were 12 clean rounds out of 27 entries, so the results depended on who could go the fastest.

The bar was set when Larioso and Ward flew around the course in a time of 61.72 seconds, a time that was six seconds faster than the current leader, Laura Kraut and Nocturnal.

It looked like Ward’s time could not be beaten until Engle stepped into the ring on Hidden Creek’s Calippo 12. The bouncy grey gelding showed his speed strength by running the course in a time of 60.21 seconds, cutting an amazing second and a half off of Ward’s time. Although there were riders after Engle that had a faster time, those all too important faults translated into a higher score.

Engle celebrated her win on a horse that she has touted for the year that she has ridden him. “He’s just a fun horse to ride. He puts you in a good mood. He goes in there every time happy. He’s like an Eveready battery; he just goes all the time. You can turn him back to almost anything. I knew the rollbacks would be good for him because he’s very brave. He accelerates very quickly,” she described. Engle also compared Calippo as a cross between two of her past famous horses, Saluut II and Hidden Creek’s Alvaretto.

Engle had not seen Ward’s round, but did hear his time. She had faith that Calippo had the potential to beat Ward. “When I heard McLain’s time, I knew he was a lot faster so I knew he must have been very quick,” she acknowledged. “[Calippo] is naturally very quick. He’s got a very quick getaway time. I knew I had taken a shot in a bunch of places. I jumped in so big to the in and out that he had to really back up there. I was a little worried that if I started going too much that he might get a little flat,” she explained.

The South Florida native has ridden the nine year old Holsteiner gelding for a year, and got word of him from the Holsteiner Association in Europe. “[They] called me and thought I would like him. He’s related to Concerto, who I used to ride, but has a lot more blood,” she said. When Engle went to try Calippo in Europe, he was a very successful breeding stallion that had shown lightly in the young jumper classes. “He didn’t get a chance to do that much showing. He was their big hope as a breeding stallion,” she disclosed. “He was a wild man as a stallion. I went to try him, and he was screaming the whole time. He was way too full of himself, so it’s probably better that he was gelded. I wish I could put some of his blood into Perin. After running around out there, he comes out and is cool again in minutes and ready to go again. He’s plenty spunky!”

Results of Class 1003 - NHS Open Speed Stake - National Horse Show - December 2, 2006

• 1 657 HIDDEN CREEK'S CALIPPO 12 MARGIE ENGLE 0.00 0.00 60.21 60.21 HIDDEN CREEK FARM
• 2 648 LARIOSO MCLAIN WARD 0.00 0.00 61.72 61.72 MCLAIN WARD
• 3 90 FAR WEST DARRAGH KERINS 0.00 0.00 62.71 62.71 HEATHER CARISTO
• 4 653 COURAGE CANDACE KING 0.00 0.00 65.98 65.98
• 5 537 AVAILABLE LAVENTOS MARIO DESLAURIERS 0.00 0.00 66.35 66.35 MARIO DESLAURIERS
• 6 33 NOCTURNAL LAURA KRAUT 0.00 0.00 67.63 67.63 PIN OAK FARM
• 7 345 CINOA JOSE REGA 4.00 0.00 63.90 67.90 VICTORIA D'AGOSTINO
• 8 655 TIBOR PABLO BARRIOS 8.00 0.00 60.18 68.18 ANNA LISA SMITH
• 9 347 NAGANO JOSE REGA 4.00 0.00 64.36 68.36 MARGARITA DE BORBON
• 10 385 DROXELLO AARON VALE 4.00 0.00 64.82 68.82 HOLLOW CREEK INVES
• 11 597 CAVALIER'S ROYAL DIAMOND SHANE SWEETNAM 0.00 0.00 70.27 70.27 LOUIS TERRAMAGRA
• 12 213 WILDCAT PABLO BARRIOS 4.00 0.00 66.84 70.84 JUAN MANUEL CARMONA

Photo Credit: Margie Engle and Hidden Creek’s Calippo 12, winners of the NHS Open Speed Stake at the 123rd National Horse Show and Family Festival. Photo © 2006 Peter Llewellyn/PMG Pictures.