July 22, 2005 – East Dorset, Vermont – Jimmy Torano’s winning streak continued Friday as the Fort Lauderdale, Florida-based rider notched yet another win at the Vermont Summer Festival. Torano aboard Marlo, a horse he owns with Sir Ruly, Inc., won the $10,000 Open Mini Prix at the Manchester Classic Horse Show in East Dorset, Vermont. Torano bested a field of 15 horses over the Dave Ballard-designed course.

In other featured competitions, Blythe Marano riding Little Foot, owned by North Run Stables and Missy Clark, won the WIHS Jumper Phase, topping a field of 35 horses and claimed the overall victory in the two-phase competition (she was 4th in the WIHS Hunter Phase yesterday, won by Julie Welles). Zazou Hoffman arrived from her success last week in the FEI Jumping Competition for Children in Bogotá, Colombia, to take over the reins from Marano on Little Foot and win the ASPCA Horsemanship Medal, topping a roster of 23 entries. Marsha Dammerman riding Highliner, owned by Sand Castle Farm, won the Ariat National Adult Medal besting a field of six horses. The Manchester Classic Horse Show is the second week of the Vermont Summer Festival, which features hunter/jumper competition Wednesday through Sunday, every week through August 14th at the Harold Beebe Farm in East Dorset, Vermont.

Marlo, Torano’s winning mount in the $10,000 Open Mini Prix, is a seven-year-old Dutch mare that Torano acquired in December of 2004 for his wife, Grand Prix rider Danielle Torano. The couple is currently sharing the mare as they prepare her for a career as a topnotch show jumper. “It’s our hope that this is Danielle’s horse for the future,” explained Jimmy. “Marlo should do everything in my opinion – the Grand Prix, absolutely.”

The Mini Prix round one required riders to clear 11 fences within 42 seconds, including a double and a triple combination. “It wasn’t real big, it wasn’t real technical. It was a nice course – nothing too demanding,” noted Torano, adding that he believed Course Designer Dave Ballard was “feeling the horses out” for the type of track he will build for Sunday’s $30,000 Otter Creek Grand Prix.

Nine horses kept all the jumps up in the first round within the time allowed and immediately jumped the six-fence short course to decide the winner, but only five were able to log double-clear performances. Andrew Philbrick aboard E Ticket owned by C Ray Investments, Inc., set pace with the first clear in 39.073 seconds, but he finished fourth. Amy Momrow riding Ground Clearance for owner Kaye Cross took the lead with her time of 34.297, but had to settle for second. Canadian Jen Gray riding her own Roxette Delores cleared the course in 40.336, which proved to be good enough for fifth. Rookie Gabby Slome aboard her own Salsa edged her way up with a clear trip in 35.810 and claimed third. Torano and Marlo were next-to-last to go in the tiebreaker and blazed around the course in the unbeatable time of 33.454 seconds for the win.

For his lightning fast jump-off time, Torano gave full credit to his mount, Marlo. “My horse is so scopey and she’s got such a big stride, in the jump-off she just really covered the ground,” said Torano. He also noted that he was able to do a line at the end of the ring in five strides, when all the other riders chose to ride it in six or seven strides. “Marlo’s stride is just so big that she covers more ground than the other horses. I know she’s fast but I didn’t think I was running around the course to win the class. I just allowed her to get to the next place. She’s just fast with her big stride.”

The Toranos have been bringing Marlo up slowly through the ranks and only recently started to challenge her with the bigger classes. Jimmy rode her in the Open Jumper Level 8 at Vermont two days ago and claimed victory in that class as well. The two wins have convinced him that Marlo is ready for the $30,000 Otter Creek Grand Prix that will be held this Sunday, July 24. The plan is part of the Toranos’ strategy for this special mare’s career. “I’ll ride her this week and then Danielle’s going to show her next week. We’ll drop her back down to the amateur jumpers just so she doesn’t have a steady diet of bigger classes,” Jimmy explained. “Right now, we go up and down with her just so she stays confident. She’s very, very brave and she’s very careful and I want to keep her that way.”

Vermont Summer Festival
JULY 13-17 – Manchester Summer Festival
JULY 20-24 – Manchester Classic Horse Show
JULY 27-31 – Valley Classic Horse Show
AUGUST 3-7 – Manchester & the Mountains Horse Show
AUGUST 10-14 – Vermont Summer Celebration

As per tradition, the Vermont Summer Festival will feature a $10,000 Mini Prix every Friday, as well as a $30,000 Grand Prix held each Sunday for the first four weeks. New for 2005, the Vermont Summer Festival will conclude with a grand finale, the $50,000 Vermont Summer Celebration Grand Prix. Each of the five weeks will also feature a $10,000 Show Jumping Hall Of Fame High Junior/Amateur-Owner Jumper class, part of the Show Jumping Hall of Fame Jumper Classic Series. Marshall & Sterling and North American League (NAL) classes are also held throughout the five weeks of competition.

For further information on the 2005 Vermont Summer Festival, please visit www.vt-summerfestival.com, e-mail: info@vt-summerfestival.com or call (802) 496-9667 or (802) 362-9023.