Margie Engle earned her seventh career Lake Placid grand prix victory in New York today, July 10, in the $75,000 Le Grand Prix Hermes CSI** aboard her newest grand prix star, Indigo. Kate Levy came closest to catching Engle aboard Lirving de Volsin, with Engle’s second mount, Hidden Creek’s Campella, coming in third.

Hillary Dobbs hit a rail early in the second round, then turned on the speed to try to clinch the fastest four-fault time, but she cut the last turn too sharply, and her veteran Corlett hit the brakes. Last to go with Indigo, Engle rode a conservative clear to take the top check back to Wellington, Fla.

•    Two other pairs managed to find a way around without knocking down a jump: Anne Kursinski aboard her rising star Shibumi, and Levy with Vent du Nord. But each tallied up 1 time fault to finish fifth and sixth, respectively.

•    Both Engle and Levy declared Steve Stephens’ course perfectly suited to their mounts. “There were a lot of lines set on a half stride,” said Engle. “I think all of us that were clean did the adds. It walked like the forward distances were there, but they got a little huntery, and they got a little flat. My horses are usually better off with the adds.”

“My horse is very adjustable, and he’s great adding, so I could easily add strides everywhere,” echoed Levy.  “I think he’s very careful, so the adds were better options because the jumps were so careful. I just wish the front rail of the triple had stayed up!”

•    Indigo took a plane to the U.S. back in March, but not from Europe. When Engle’s usual dealer declared Europe “shopped out” this spring, he tracked down Indigo from a couple in Australia. “He doesn’t have a lot of experience at this level, but he’s really game,” said Engle, who started with him back in March. “He’s like a little rubber ball, just game at whatever you ask him to do.”

•    Levy and Engle will go head-to-head soon, as both have set their sights on qualifying for the Pfizer $1,000,000 Grand Prix at HITS-On-The-Hudson (N.Y.) in September. They both still need a few more qualifying rides under their belt, so they’ll be sending their horses to that venue later this month.

•    Engle’s win today, coupled with her sixth-placed finish in last week’s Grand Prix of Lake Placid on Campella, boosted her to the Feldman award, given to the rider who wins the most combined money in both classes.

•    While rails fell all over the course, the biggest problems of the day came at a skinny vertical and through the triple bar to vertical combination, set uphill. Only one horse, Chrissy McCrea’s Twisther, dug in his heels at the considerable open water. The horse cleared it willingly on the second approach after just a big kick as reprimand.

•    Darragh Kenny picked up an extra mount during his trip to Lake Placid in addition to his regular ride Gael Force. Jeffery Welles took a tumble during last week’s $30,000 open jumper classic, putting him out of contention, and Welles passed along his mount, Abigail Wexner’s Armani, to the Irishman. Kenny finished eighth on Gael Force and ninth on Armani today.

•    Dobbs suffered equipment malfunction aboard her other entry, Udento VDL, and had to pull up to tie a broken breastplate mid-course. She finished at the bottom of the completion list, but the horse jumped beautifully in this, one of the biggest grand prix of his career.

•    The youngest rider today, Paulena Johnson, tacked up her junior jumper Anyway to finish on a respectable 16 faults. One rider was eliminated—Jennifer Lynn Goddard after two stops on Angelina—and Nona Garson bowed out on Languster.

And In The Hunter Rings….

•    One of this season’s brightest equitation stars, Karen Polle, added another win when she topped the Kathy Scholl Equitation Classic. Polle, who lives in New York, N.Y., and trains with the Beacon Hill team, moved up from fourth to first after a flawless work-off sans stirrups.

“The first round was great for me because a lot was off the left lead, and that’s the easier lead,” said the 17-year-old. “I was a little nervous about the last line. It was a little forward, and sometimes I mess up, but not this time. My horse [Radius H] was fantastic, and he really doesn’t make mistakes.”

•    The test shuffled around the standings, as riders struggled to hold truly perfect position through a counter-canter, trot fence, hand gallop and halt after a week of riding in over 90-degree heat.

•    Besides being one of the more rewarding horsemanship classes around—first and second place get bikes, third and fourth digital cameras—top trainers and students use the Kathy Scholl to gauge their readiness for the upcoming fall indoor equitation season. In fact, that class, coupled with the chance to earn enough money to qualify for North American Junior and Young Rider Championships (Ky.), convinced Karen Polle to forsake a trip to Spruce Meadows (Alta.).

•    The Lake Placid judging panel demonstrated a common theme when it came to testing their medal riders: no stirrups. Both sections of Pessoa/USEF Medal riders endured a no-stirrups test, and like the Kathy Scholl, that test very much changed the results in both classes.

•    Sophie Michaels became the big pony winner during I Love New York, piloting Katie Dinan’s Light Up The Year to the medium pony hunter title and the Clifton Park Rental Center Pony Hunter Classic. Michaels, New York, N.Y., paired up with Elizabeth Cunniffe of Whipstick Farm when Heritage Farm opted not to travel to the Adirondacks this year.

•    Tomorrow’s $10,000 USHJA International Hunter Derby kicks off at 8 a.m. on the grass grand prix field. While there’s a start list full of heavy-hitters—Jersey Boy and Summer Place to name a few—no doubt the most-watched horse in the ring will be last year’s $100,000 ASG Software Solutions/USHJA International Hunter Derby winner Rumba. He’s come east from Los Angeles, Calif., with owner Destry Spielberg. While it will be the pair’s first derby together, they’ve already proven themselves in the junior ring at Lake Placid, winning the large junior hunter, 15 and under, title together this week.

The Chronicle has hunter and jumper photos up from the I Love New York horse show earlier in the week. Full results are available from this week’s I Love New York Horse Show and Lake Placid Horse Show.