East Dorset, VT—July 28, 2002—Jeffery Wells of Pound Ridge, NY, won the $35,000 Mount Equinox Grand Prix on Sunday, sponsored by Nutraceutical, riding Penelope, owned by M/M Douglas Durst in the Vermont Summer Festival Horse Show at Harold Beebe Farm, East Dorset, VT.

Federico Sztyrle of Bridgehampton, NY, came in second, riding Caya, owned by Sag Pond Farm and Michael Dorman of Jamison, PA, aboard Enzo La Mulotiere, owned by Caroline Lloyd, came in third. Presenting the award to the winners was Mr. and Mrs. Harold Beebe, hosts of the Vermont Summer Festival.

Although it rained all morning, the weather cooperated and stopped just in time for the Grand Prix, leaving the field of thirty unaffected and coming through with six clean rounds for an exciting jump-off. Welles was the last to go in the jump-off and time was of the essence as four out of the five before him went clear. Sztyrle and Caya, who were second in the jump-off set the time to beat at 36.263 seconds. Welles shaved off nearly a second to clinch the victory in 35.732 and gave all the credit to Penelope.

“She’s just a really fast horse,” said Welles. “Sometimes her speed gets her into trouble, but when she gets it together, she’s hard to beat.”

Welles is on a roll in Vermont, winning five open jumper classes in the last five days, including the $10,000 Bruce Chovnick LLC Mini Prix on Friday, July 26.

A special award was presented to Vanessa Stevenson of Southampton, NY on behalf of the Komen Vermont Race for the Cure to the Leading Lady Rider, following the Mount Equinox Grand Prix. Stevenson accumulated the highest number of points in the Open Jumper and Grand Prix divisions during the first three weeks of the Vermont Summer Festival. The Race for the Cure took place in Manchester earlier in the day with close to 4,000 participants. The proceeds will go to breast cancer research.

The Vermont Summer Festival, New England’s largest “AA” rated hunter-jumper horse show circuit, continues with the Manchester and the Mountains Horse Show, July 31 - August 4 and culminates with the Vermont Summer Celebration, August 7 - 11.

For further information, please visit the Vermont Summer Festival website at www.vt-summerfestival.com or call 802-362-7548.

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