For the eighth time in her career, and for the third year in a row on Hidden Creek’s Wapino, Margie Engle raced to victory in the $65,000 Merrill Lynch Cleveland Grand Prix, the nation’s oldest show jumping classic. The class is still held at the beautiful Metropark Polo Field in Moreland Hills, OH, the site of the original Cleveland Grand Prix, first held in 1965.

An enthusiastic crowd of over 5,000 braved a blistering hot 90-plus degree Sunday afternoon in the steamy Chagrin Valley.

Twenty starters went to the post to challenge the course designed by Floridian Steve Stephens. The Merrill Lynch Cleveland Grand Prix is a member event of the American Grand Prix (AGA) Series of Show Jumping. Of the 20 starters, six earned the right to advance to the second-round tie-breaker with clear performances in the first round. Two riders picked up time faults over the first course, six had a single knockdown and three had two rails down. Three competitors were eliminated or withdrew.

Engle, with three of the six qualifiers, was the only rider to go double-clean. Her double-clear came aboard the two-time defending champion at Merrill Lynch, Hidden Creek’s Wapino. Engle guided the tall chestnut to a fault-free go in a time of 44.624 seconds for the victory. Engle grabbed second place with Hidden Creek’s Oscar. With the other three competitors in the jump-off picking up faults, and the victory well in hand with Wapino, Engle elected to cruise home with a slow careful clear with Oscar. In doing so, she accumulated three time faults in a time of 49.675 seconds.

McLain Ward, a past champion at Cleveland, had Engle’s time but rolled the rail at a single fence over the short course. Aboard his Halbi D'ariane, Ward finished up with four faults in 41.617 seconds. Fourth place finishers, Eliza Shuford and Gustl II, also had the time, but with four faults. Shuford broke the beams in 45.308 seconds. Engle finished sixth with Calippo with eight faults in 41.941 seconds.

The win should move Engle into the top three in the race for AGA Rider of the Year, an award she has won nine times previously. Ward was leading Engle by 25 points going into the event in Cleveland, and a top three finish will maintain his top spot. Hidden Creek’s Wapino, in 14th place in the race for AGA Horse of the Year, should move into the top ten with this victory.

Show jumping returns to the Metroparks Polo Field in September as the $100,000 Wachovia Securities American Gold Cup moves back to Cleveland from Philadelphia on September 13-17, 2006. The total purse offered for the weekend in September will be over $23,000.

After more than two decades of being based outside Philadelphia, PA, at the Devon Horse Show grounds, the Gold Cup organizers decided to bring this premier equestrian show jumping event back to where it began. The first American Gold Cup was held in conjunction with the Chagrin Valley PHA Horse Show in 1970. Later the Gold Cup moved to Florida and became the forerunner of today's American Invitational in Tampa, before settling near Philadelphia where it remained until this year.

“We expect this world-class event to be a major boom to the local economy, as we attract top national and international competitors and fans to Northeast Ohio,” said Michael Morrissey, CEO of Stadium Jumping, Inc., organizers of the Gold Cup.


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