August 7, 2005 – East Dorset, Vermont – Ian Silitch made a triumphant return to the Vermont Summer Festival Horse Show by winning the $30,000 Manchester and the Mountains Grand Prix held Sunday, August 7, in East Dorset, VT.

A total of 26 horses attempted the 13-obstacle track set by course designer and Olympic Silver Medalist Michel Vaillancourt of Canada, but only three managed to leave all the rails in their place to advance to the jump-off round. Interestingly, all three clear rounds came from among the first ten horses.

First to challenge the shortened jump-off course, Silitch and Navigator left all of the rails in the their place and stopped the clock at 39.44 seconds, laying down the gauntlet for the two riders who followed.

Sheila Burke of Elmira, NY, had her hopes dashed early on when the second fence on course came down. Her four-fault effort in a time of 42.95 seconds riding the cute bay gelding, Quincy B, would eventually leave her in third place.

The final challenger, Bill Lowry, went for the win, but when the clock stopped at 39.66 seconds, it left him just shy of Silitch’s winning time.

Silitch claimed his victory aboard Navigator, a 12-year-old chestnut Irish Sport Horse gelding owned by Bethany Curtis, in only the horse’s second Grand Prix event. His first was one week earlier when Silitch showed him in the $30,000 Mt. Equinox Grand Prix.

“He jumped really well, he’s a cool horse with a big step that is very careful, and Bill was kind enough to go just a little bit slower,” joked Silitch, who is based in Ocala, FL, and spends his summers in Virginia. “This was my first time showing in Manchester in 11 years, so it is a triumphant return.”

For Lowry, who is based in Rhode Island, his second place finish marked the best Grand Prix result to date for Rio Corde. Lowry owns the nine-year-old bay Hessen gelding by Ramiro Z in partnership with Ton Visscher of the Netherlands.

“I was too slow,” Lowry said philosophically of being in the runner-up position. “I added one stride too many to the final jump, I did eight strides and Ian only did seven. That made the difference between winning and being second.”

Linda Sheridan had the distinction of placing fourth and fifth when her two entries, Tudor News and Invitational respectively, each incurred four faults but stopped the clock at the fastest times.

Silitch and Lowry will face-off once more in next Sunday’s $50,000 Vermont Summer Celebration Grand Prix, the grand finale of the 2005 Vermont Summer Festival Horse Show. They will encounter stiff competition from Jimmy Torano, who won the first two Grand Prix events of the five-week circuit, as well as Christine Tribble, the winner of Week Three’s $30,000 Mt. Equinox Grand Prix.

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. In addition to being New England’s largest ‘AA’ rated hunter-jumper horse show, it is also the largest sporting event based on prize money awarded in the State of Vermont. 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.