Last year, a broken leg put Margie Engle out of action for several months and kept her from winning a spot on the Athens Olympic team. But the winningest rider in grand prix history is back, and she proved it emphatically by claiming first and second in the $100,000 Budweiser/Upperville Jumper Classic CSI*** on June 12.

Engle captured the blue with Hidden Creek’s Wapino and was a close second with Hidden Creek’s Perin at the Upperville Colt & Horse Show in Upperville, Va. Her last win in the Upperville classic was 11 years ago aboard Land Of Kings.

Hidden Creek’s Perin, Engle’s 2000 Olympic mount, had returned to action the week before at Devon (Pa.) in an open speed class. It was his first time in the show ring in almost a year after being cast in his stall and suffering an injury. Perin jumped brilliantly, but he had to settle for second to the up-and-coming Wapino (Weinberg–Piccola).

“Hidden Creek’s Wapino is one of the nicest young horses I’ve ever had,” said Engle about the 9-year-old, Westphalian gelding. Wapino came to Engle from the Netherlands last year, and she started him in the smaller grand prix events.

But this year Wapino has really caught on. The winning combination placed first in the $75,000 HITS On The Hudson II Grand Prix (N.Y.) on June 5 and third in the Kentucky Spring Grand Prix on May 15.

“He’s a fantastic athlete,” said Engle, adding that the 17.2-hand chestnut rides like an equitation horse. “He has a lovely mouth and rides beautifully in between the jumps.”

No Clear First Rounds

At first, it seemed that Engle wouldn’t return at all because she had a rail down with each horse in the first round. But no one could master Michel Vaillancourt’s course, so six four-faulters returned for the jump-off.

Wapino had lowered a rail at the A element of the triple combination during the first round. Engle attributed Wapino’s mistake to his inexperience on the hills and grass. “He’s still green enough that when he jumped so high going into the combination, it scared him. He was trying to be clean, but he barely hit it going downhill.

“He wasn’t about to hit anything in the jump-off,” added a smiling Engle. “He’s always better the second time in the ring.”

Engle did eight strides down the first line, then made a tight right-hand turn to an oxer on the rail, then sliced right again back to an intimidating skinny gray wall, which caused a few stops and rails in the first round. Next, the pair galloped for a few strides and turned to the in-and-out going downhill, where Wapino cleverly backed himself up. The second-to-last jump required a right-hand turn to the Budweiser vertical, which came up long, but Wapino moved up without hesitation. They finished over a wide oxer with a time of 40.77 seconds.

Wapino bettered Perin’s time in the jump-off by almost 2 seconds and took home the $30,000 check, wool cooler, and Tiffany & Co., sterling watch.

“Wapino caught Perin’s time because he turns so easily,” explained Engle. She said Perin “was a little rusty. I barely got him turned to the skinny.”

The first round of Vaillancourt’s course required a lot of galloping between the jumps, but the second round emphasized turning.

Aaron Vale aboard Hollow Creek’s Rom-ulus and Laurie Jakubauskas on Mirage also posted clear rounds in the jump-off, but they couldn’t catch Engle’s time. Jakubauskas was almost 8 seconds off the target time because the pair added a stride in the first line and then went slow and wide to the gray wall, the combination, and the single vertical.

Carlos Boy and Ken Berkley were clean in the jump-off up until the downhill combination, where Carlos Boy took down the rail with a toe. Carston Jaeger on Classic H laid down a blazing time of 39.75 seconds, but the gray wall was his nemesis and a knockdown cost them the blue.

Always A Soft Spot

“I’ll always have a soft spot in my heart for him,” said Margie of Perin. But his time off allowed Engle time to work with the young horses like Wapino and to further recover from her own leg injury, in which she had a serious break at the hip joint last year.

“It’s OK. It’s still on,” said Engle about her leg, laughing. She perseveres with physical therapy and hopes that the leg will continue to heal.

The Upperville Colt & Horse Show is the oldest horse show in America, but only 17 riders competed in the grand prix this year, compared to 33 last year. Competition with Spruce Meadows (Alta.) and HITS On The Hudson (N.Y.) had the jumper ranks stretched thin.

Nevertheless, Upperville remains one of Engle’s favorite grand prix events for its unique feeling of timelessness and the beautiful, undulating grand prix field surrounded by huge oak trees.

“Where else can you go and have jumps that look like this? When people put so much effort into it, I think it’s up to us to try and support them. It’s great to go to horse shows in other places, but I think it’s important to support the ones here. Without Budweiser, we wouldn’t have as good of grand prix events as we have,” said Engle.

Boy Oh Boy, It’s A Victory For Hood

Amanda Hood just added a new boy to her life in March when she gave birth to her second child, a son named Sumner. And at the Upperville Colt & Horse Show, her first show back in action, she guided her “horse child,” Boy Oh Boy, to an impressive victory in the WIHS Adult Amateur Jumper Classic.

“This is a big win. I love Upperville; it’s one of my favorite shows,” she said. “It’s always good company here, so when you win, it’s not an easy victory.”

Hood, 38, Washington, D.C., who rides with Kitty and Johnny Barker, praised Boy Oh Boy, nicknamed “Bob,” for his reliability.

“We had rails in all of the other [adult jumper] classes, but I felt like I rode respectfully,” she said. “Bob is great. Even when I first tried him when he was green, I felt he always looks out for you.”

With a competitive group of adults vying for the blue ribbon, Hood pulled out all of the stops to shave more than a second off the leading jump-off time. A rollback turn at the end of the course made the difference.

“I didn’t give him much time to face [the jump],” she said. “But he’s so good, as long as you make it clear where he’s going. I think he enjoys it–as much as any of them do. He gets into the jump-offs.”

Hood has owned Bob, a 10-year-old Belgian Warmblood (by Brown Boy), for four years. Initially, she purchased him as an amateur-owner jumper prospect. But just as she was about to start tackling the bigger fences, she had her first child, Stephanie, now 3.

“After I had the baby I came back and did the low [amateurs] for awhile,” said Hood. “But after having a baby, the jumps just look a lot bigger.”

Hood also balances her family and riding career with work as a historian and writer. She’s currently writing a book about Sissy Patterson, the 1930s and ’40s socialite who was the publisher of the Washington Times-Herald.

With her three-month maternity leave now over, Hood will return to work and fit in showing when she can. But she knows she can always count on Bob to be there for her when she’s ready to jump into her riding clothes.

“He’s been a wonderful horse, and I can’t imagine not keeping him until the end,” added Hood. “He’s like a pet. He’s got a great personality too. He’s little, not much more than 15.2-hands, but he can really jump.”

Tricia Booker