August 12, 2005 – East Dorset, Vermont – Christine McCrea of East Windsor, CT, made another trip to the Vermont Summer Festival winner’s circle by claiming victory in the $10,000 Mii Prix on Friday, August 12, at the five-week long show jumping competition running July 13 to August 14 in East Dorset, VT.

McCrea, 27, who formerly competed under her maiden name of Tribble, was the winner of Week Three’s $30,000 Mt. Equinox Grand Prix, Presented by the Equinox Resort & Spa. On Friday, she had two chances at victory in the $10,000 Mini Prix, scoring the win with the fastest double clear round riding Promised Land and also placing sixth riding her chestnut Dutch Warmblood gelding, Laddidor. Her new husband, John McCrea, also placed in the top ten riding Primo.

“It is my one year anniversary with Promised Land, the first show I ever did with him was Week Five of the Vermont Summer Festival last year,” laughed McCrea, who purchased the 11-year-old bay German-bred gelding from Derek Petersen. “The course was nice and inviting and all the horses jumped well, it was everything that the class before the Grand Prix should be. Of course, I was just supposed to be practicing for the Grand Prix and wasn’t supposed to be going that fast but once I got a taste of it in the jump-off, I just kept going. Promised Land is just such a fast horse, so there was really no point in going slow!”

McCrea has formed a strong partnership with Promised Land in their first year together, and their success resulted in being named to the United States Equestrian Team that competed in Europe in Nations’ Cup events in Rotterdam, NED, Lummen, BEL, and Falsterbo, SWE. As for what attracted her to the horse in the first place, McCrea said, “He went so fast and was so careful, and after always being second to a horse like that, it was enough to make us want to buy him. We weren’t actively trying to purchase him or anything, but we happened to be in the right place at the right time and it all just sort of came together.”

Known as ‘Peanut’ around the barn, Promised Land is owned by McCrea’s mother, Candy Tribble, and Windsor Show Stables of Windsor, CT.

“We call him Peanut in the stable because he is a total nut,” laughs McCrea. “He thinks he owns the place and when we are at a show, he thinks everyone has come to see him. The more people that are watching, the better he jumps. He is a true show horse.”

There is sure to be a crowd out watching on Sunday when the Vermont Summer Festival culminates with the $50,000 Vermont Summer Celebration Grand Prix. Olympians and past winners have all gathered in East Dorset in an attempt to claim the winner’s purse, including such famous names as Norman Dello Joio, Jimmy and Danielle Torano, Ian Silitch and the defending champion the past five out of six years, Mary Lisa Leffler.

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 in the State of Vermont, awarding a total of $.6 million in prize money.

Each of the five weeks of competition features a $10,000 Friday Mini Prix while the first four weeks has featured a $30,000 Sunday Grand Prix. New for 2005, the Vermont Summer Festival culminates with the $50,000 Vermont Summer Celebration Grand Prix on Sunday, August 14. For more information on the Vermont Summer Festival, please visit www.vt-summerfestival.com or call (802) 362-7548.