August 4, 2005 – East Dorset, Vermont – One week after helping USA Zone 2 capture the Gold Medal at the North American Young Riders’ Championship, Blythe Marano once again demonstrated her winning form by claiming the USEF Talent Search at the Vermont Summer Festival running from July 13 to August 14 in East Dorset, VT.

Marano, 17, of Bedminster, NJ, was one of 19 athletes contesting the competition that is open to riders aged 21 and under. Following the two-round competition which features a jumping phase followed by a flat phase, Marano found herself in the winner’s circle for the second time at the Vermont Summer Festival, having also won the USEF Talent Search during the opening week of competition.

“Everyone competed in the jumper phase, which consisted of ten jumps, and then the judge asked everyone to come back for the flat phase,” explained Marano, who counts her new North American Young Riders’ Championship Gold Medal among the greatest accomplishments in her young career, along with the Gold Medal her Zone 2 team won at the Prix de Nations Junior Championship last fall at the Harrisburg Horse Show in Pennsylvania. “We all did the flat together, demonstrating walk, trot, canter, and showing a lengthening of strides. Then we were split into two groups while we demonstrated counter canter in each direction.

“I know that Little Foot is usually perfect, and he jumped really well,” continued Marano of her winning ride over the course set by Canadian course designer Michel Vaillancourt. “The course was pretty straightforward, you had to use your eyes and know what would be accurate for your horse. There was a bending line where you could do any number of strides that you wanted, but you had to know what would work for your horse. On another line, I thought the judge was looking for the riders to show control. Everyone was doing four strides, so I did five. As it turned out, that is what he wanted.”

Marano made a special trip to Vermont just to compete in the USEF Talent Search, driving four hours from New Jersey on Tuesday night and was heading back home immediately after the competition. The main motivation for her trip was to increase her number of USEF career titles, which now totals 17. Marano already holds her Bronze and Silver Medals for five and 13 wins respectively, but hopes to achieve her Gold Medal, awarded for 20 USEF Talent Search career victories, before the year is out. If she reaches her goal, the Gold Medal will be presented to Marano at the USEF Talent Search Finals, where she will be making her third consecutive appearance, held this fall in Gladstone, New Jersey. Considering that Marano claimed ten victories in 2004 and has already won another five this year, the odds of her reaching her goal are in her favor.

Her two wins in the USEF Talent Search at Vermont have come riding Little Foot, a seven-year-old gelding owned by her trainer of four years, Missy Clark of North Run Farm. Clark, who is based in Warren, VT, is one of the nation’s most acclaimed equestrian trainers, notably in the equitation divisions.

“We have a lesson every morning, and she always prepares us well to go into the ring,” said Marano of Clark’s training style. “We never go into the ring wondering if we can do this – we know Missy wouldn’t send us in there unless she thought we were ready.”

In addition to her coaching skills, Clark also provides quality horses for her students to show.

“I only rode Little Foot for the first time here at the Vermont Summer Festival,” revealed Marano, a senior at Pingry School in Bedminster who plans to study business at Columbia University in New York. “He is so young, but when you go in the ring, he is perfect. Outside of the ring, he craves attention, he is always nudging you, slobbering all over you, and just being a pain.”

Marano is also enjoying great success in the Washington International Horse Show (WIHS) Equitation classes, having placed second in the competition during Week 1, and winning during Week 2. Marano missed last week’s competition in order to participate in the 2005 North American Young Riders’ Championship in Lexington, VA.

A family tradition, Marano has been riding for as long as she can remember. Her mother, Janice, competes in the Adult Amateur Hunter division and is often at the same competitions as her daughter. Her father, Matthew Marano, is an avid eventing athlete who competes at the preliminary level in his chosen equestrian discipline. The family has its own stable, Weatherstone Farm, in New Jersey where Marano and her horses are based, meeting up with her trainer at competitions.

While Marano will definitely be returning to Vermont next week for the final USEF Talent Search competition, she may also bring along her Young Riders’ Gold Medal horse with whom she also placed sixth individually. River, a nine-year-old bay Holsteiner mare by Riverman, was purchased at the end of the Florida show circuit in 2004. Kim Frey and McLain Ward, both United States Equestrian Team members, had shown the horse before Marano purchased her.

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.