July 14, 2006 – East Dorset, Vermont – Jimmy Torano notched another win aboard Ralvesther at the 2006 Vermont Summer Festival, claiming victory in the $10,000 Polo Ralph Lauren Mini Prix on Friday, the first in the series of five Mini Prix events presented by Manchester Designer Outlets. The $10,000 Polo Ralph Lauren Mini Prix was the featured Friday class of Week 1, the 'Manchester Summer Festival' (July 12-16), of the five-week Vermont Summer Festival at Harold Beebe Farm in East Dorset, Vermont. In addition to the $3,000 prize money awarded to the Mini Prix winner, Torano received a $1,000 gift card that can be used at any Polo Ralph Lauren store nationwide.

Torano rode three horses in the $10,000 Polo Ralph Lauren Mini Prix, including his own Ormbsy Hill and Edesa’s Caruso, but it was the talented Ralvesther, his third mount in the class, that bested the field of 39 horses. Ralvesther is an eight-year-old bay Dutch Warmblood mare owned by Susan Carr and her 10-year-old daughter, rider Nikki Carr (SCNC Investments Inc.).

Course Designer Anthony D’Ambrosio designed the 11-jump, 14-effort Round One track, which included doubles at Fences 3 and 5, and set the time allowed at 69 seconds. The class format allowed horses that went clear over the first round to stay in the ring and immediately tackle the jump-off course of six fences with the time allowed set at 47 seconds. Only nine horses managed to go clean in round one before attempting the jump-off, and Torano and Ralvesther were the fastest clear.

Andrew Welles riding Maestro owned by Peter Welles and Family, was the eighth rider on the course. He was able to produce a clean round to advance to the jump-off where he set the pace with a four-fault jump-off trip in 35.675 seconds, but his lead was short-lived and he finished in sixth place. Next in the ring, Keri Potter-Pessoa aboard her own Rockford I, edged into the lead with a double-clear performance, clocking in at 38.024 seconds, which held for second place. Torano and Ralvesther, the 11th pair on the roster, moved into the lead with a double-clear performance and the unbeatable jump-off time of 33.328 seconds to take the win.

Twenty-two more riders chased Torano and the swift mare Ralvesther, but none could catch them, though six more riders managed to advance to the jump-off with two more riders putting in double-clear performances. Sebastien Kapel of the Netherlands riding Kaiser de la Cour for Canada's Mill Creek Stables kept all the jumps up, crossing the timers in 38.850 seconds for third place. Caitlin Venezia riding Q&Q for Ariane Stiegler also put in a double-clear performance, breaking the beam in 40.086 to claim fourth place.

“It was tough enough,” Torano said of the two rounds. “Anthony built a good course, fairly technical. My horse is a very nice horse – she’s a little green and she rode a little ratty, and I would have liked her to ride a little smoother today, but luckily she has a lot of quality and she is careful, so she jumped very well in both rounds.”

In the first round, Torano assessed that the track was challenging right from the start going from 2 to 3AB. “A lot of people really wanted to do five [strides] because it walked dead-on in five, but with the double vertical at 3AB, you had to do six to leave them up," said Torano. "That was difficult.”

On his first mount, Ormbsy Hill, the first horse on course, Torano did it in six strides and noted that the rest of the class followed suit. Torano pointed out two other spots that challenged riders. “You had a rollback right by the ingate to 4 to 5AB, which was difficult, and the last line was a very, very steady distance to a plank on flat cups,” he explained. Torano appreciated the course designer’s work, saying “He put a lot of tests out there, it wasn’t just in one place. It was technical and it was a rider’s course. You had to basically ride a lot of places.”

In the jump-off round, Torano gave his mare all the credit for the speedy, clean finish. “That mare is just very fast. When she’s in the jump-off, I can really count on her,” Torano stated. “Right off the bat, from the first fence to the second, I believe I was the only one who did the inside turn – it was to a skinny vertical that was very, very difficult to do, but I really trusted the mare. She came through for me there and that sort of sealed it. Then I stayed on the pace.” Torano actually took one more inside turn to the vertical before the final double. “All in all, she was just really quick everywhere,” Torano enthused.

Competition Highlights
Heather Dobbs of Sussex, New Jersey, riding Comfortside Farm's Gulliver clinched the overall win in the Washington International Horse Show (WIHS) competition today by placing first in the WIHS Jumper Phase, besting a field of 47 horses. Yesterday in the WIHS Hunter Phase, Dobbs and Gulliver placed ninth, while Zazou Hoffman of Santa Monica, California, riding Tonight owned by North Run and Missy Clark, claimed the win by topping the field of 49 competitors.

Featuring more than $600,000 in prize money, the Vermont Summer Festival includes a $10,000 Mini Prix each Friday, and, for the first four weeks of competition, a $30,000 Sunday Grand Prix. The 2006 Vermont Summer Festival closes with the grand finale, the $50,000 Vermont Summer Celebration Grand Prix on Sunday, August 13. The Vermont Summer Festival is also a proud member event of the Show Jumping Hall Of Fame, the Marshall & Sterling League, and the North American League (NAL). For more information on the 2006 Vermont Summer Festival, or to download or request a prize list, please e-mail: info@vt-summerfestival.com or visit www.vt-summerfestival.com.