August 3, 2005 – East Dorset, Vermont – Tracy Bartko-Magness won the $2,500 Open Jumper competition on Wednesday to open the fourth of five weeks of show jumping competition at the Vermont Summer Festival running July 13 to August 14 in East Dorset, VT.

Bartko-Magness was the only rider to post a clear jump-off round over the challenge set by Canadian course designer Michel Vaillancourt. Bartko-Magness, who hails from Baltimore, Maryland, was aboard Lebora, owned by Mr. and Mrs. Bartko.

The win served notice that Bartko-Magness, the winner of last year’s $35,000 Mt. Equinox Grand Prix, is once again set to claim a Grand Prix title before the five-week competition is done. She will face stiff competition from Canadian challenger, Angela Covert-Lawrence, who would have joined Bartko-Magness in the Open Jumper jump-off riding Tomboy Major had it not been for one time fault incurred for exceeding the predetermined time allowed.

In fact, all five winners of Grand Prix events at the 2004 Vermont Summer Festival will be looking to claim victory in the grand finale, the $50,000 Vermont Summer Festival Grand Prix to be held on Sunday, August 14. Jimmy Torano, his wife Danielle Torano, Mary Lisa Leffler, Bartko-Magness and Covert-Lawrence will all face-off. And, Christine Tribble of East Windsor, CT, who won Week Three’s $30,000 Mt. Equinox Grand Prix this year, will also answer the challenge.

Jimmy Torano of Fort Lauderdale, FL, has had a stronghold on the first three weeks of competition at Vermont Summer Festival, winning the first two $30,000 Grand Prix events and placing second to Tribble in the $30,000 Mt. Equinox Grand Prix. However, the rider with the best record in final Grand Prix event is Mary Lisa Leffler of Brookeville, MD, who has claimed victory five times in the past six years.

No matter what the outcome is, the $50,000 Vermont Summer Celebration Grand Prix promises to be an exciting conclusion to the 2005 Vermont Summer Festival Horse Show.

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 and is New England’s largest ‘AA’ rated hunter-jumper horse show. 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.