Press release from Traverse City Horse Shows

Margie Engle (USA) is an avid poker player, but her luck lately has been better in the Turtle Creek Casino & Hotel International Ring than in the poker room. After winning the $37,000 Limitless Performance CSI3* Speed Thursday during Traverse City Horse Shows (TCHS) Spring I, Engle and the Gladwinds Partners, LLC, entry Dicas brought their A game back to top the $138,600 Turtle Creek Casino & Hotel CSI3* Grand Prix Sunday afternoon.

The inaugural grand prix of the 2022 season was built for the occasion, but riders rose to the challenge, with seven entries jumping clear over the first-round track, set by 2016 Olympic course designer Guilherme Jorge (BRA), including Engle on both her mounts. 

Of the field of seven jump-off contenders, the pace just kept getting quicker as Gabriela Reutter (CHI), Freddie Vazquez (PUR), and Engle shaved precious seconds off the clock to claim the lead. Engle’s pressure got the best of most of the remaining pairs, and she was not able to catch her own leading time aboard her second mount, Jackofhearts, who placed fourth. Vazquez and Kircshwasser SCF claimed second place in a jump-off time of 42.38 seconds, while Reutter and Maharees Rock, owned by Lumiere Horses Inc., placed third in a time of 43.09 seconds.

“[Dicas] is just a good horse,” Engle said of the 2009 Rhinelander gelding (Diarado x Cassini I). “He has a wonderful heart. He’s a big horse but he’s like a puppy dog. He wants to crawl in your lap. He knows he’s big and when I go to put his bridle on he puts his head so low I don’t know if he’s making fun of me or trying to help. He doesn’t ride like a big horse; he’s very handy for as tall as he is. And he’s got a wonderful attitude.”