July 30, 2005 – East Dorset, Vermont – Olivia Weeks followed in her sisters’ footsteps by winning the $1,500 NAL/WIHS Children’s Jumper Classic on Saturday at the Vermont Summer Festival running July 13 to August 14 in East Dorset, VT.

Week three of the five week competition, known as the ‘Valley Classic Horse Show’, saw 28 of the best riders under the age of 18 tackle the track set by course designer Pierre Jolicoeur in the Grand Prix ring. Weeks was the first of 11 riders to post a clear round, assuring her place in the jump-off.

First back for the determining second round, Weeks again left all the rails in place and stopped the clock at 36.258 seconds. Incredibly, her performance was not bettered by any of the ten challengers who followed, giving Weeks the victory.

“I am not a fast rider, so basically my plan was to just jump clear,” said Weeks, 15, of Southport, CT. “Ronan was so good, he’s a big horse but he turns really well.”

Weeks’ mount, Ronan, had the experience to carry her to the victory. The 10-year-old chestnut gelding is the former High Junior Jumper mount of her older sister, Alexa. Alexa bought the horse three years ago in Sweden, and now has kindly passed Ronan’s reins over to her younger sister.

“He’s amazing, he is one of the nicest horses I have ever ridden,” praised Weeks who trains with Kent Farrington in Greenwich, CT. “He will do anything for attention – and peppermints!”

The youngest of four children, Weeks, who attends the Foxcroft School in Virginia, says that she owes her show jumping career to her family, particularly her mother who encouraged all of her children to get in the saddle. Her two older sisters are both current show jumping competitors while her brother has now chosen hockey over horses.

Placing second in the NAL/WIHS Children’s Jumper Classic was Alexandra Solsvig, the only other rider to post a clear round. Solsvig clocked in at 38.147 seconds riding Twelfth Hour, a horse owned by her trainer Jim Toon of JT Farm in South Salem, NY.

The fastest four-fault round belonged to Benjamin Simpkins and Charming Z who stopped the clock at 32.632 seconds and would have claimed the victory had a rail not fallen at the third fence on course. Hannah Beresford, the only rider to qualify two horses for the jump-off, was the final challenger riding Goldfinger, but also had four faults and a time of 33.406 to place fourth. Kelsey Hart and Mephisto rounded out the top five.

The $1,500 NAL/WIHS Children’s Jumper Classic is part of the North American League (NAL), a season-long series that features six hunter and jumper divisions – Children’s Hunter, Children’s Jumper, Adult Hunter, Adult Jumper, Pony Jumper, and Open Jumper Speed. Each series culminates with a championship final held at the Pennsylvania National Horse Show in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, in October. The Vermont Summer Festival hosts classes for these divisions each of its five weeks of competition.

Sunday’s featured event at the Vermont Summer Festival is the $30,000 Mt. Equinox Grand Prix, sponsored by the Manchester-based Equinox Resort & Spa. Jimmy Torano, who laid claim to the first two Vermont Grand Prix events, will be looking to extend his winning steak to three.

The 2005 Vermont Summer Festival features five weeks of exciting equestrian competition running July 13 to August 14 at Harold Beebe Farm in East Dorset, VT. New England’s largest ‘AA’ rated hunter-jumper horse show and newly sanctioned by Equine Canada, the Vermont Summer Festival kicked off with the Manchester Summer Festival held July 13-17 and continued with the Manchester Classic Horse Show from July 20-24. The Valley Classic Horse Show runs from July 27-July 31, followed by the Manchester and the Mountains Horse Show from August 3-7, and concluding with the Vermont Summer Celebration from August 10-14.

As is the tradition at the Vermont Summer Festival, each of the first four weeks of competition features a $30,000 Grand Prix and a $10,000 Mini Prix. New for 2005 is the $50,000 Vermont Summer Celebration Grand Prix to conclude the five-week Vermont Summer Festival on Sunday, August 14. For more information on the Vermont Summer Festival, please visit www.vt-summerfestival.com or call (802) 362-7548.