Sulu Rose Reed and Gannon won the $30,000 Mt. Equinox Grand Prix, presented by The Equinox Resort & Spa, on Sunday, August 5, at the 2007 Vermont Summer Festival. Photo by David Mullinix Photography

August 5, 2007 – East Dorset, Vermont – Sulu Rose Reed won the $30,000 Mt. Equinox Grand Prix, presented by The Equinox Resort & Spa, on Sunday, August 5, to close out week four of the Vermont Summer Festival. The largest ‘AA’ rated hunter-jumper horse show held in New England, the Vermont Summer Festival is a six-week competition taking place from July 11 to August 19, 2007, in East Dorset, VT.

Course designer Jamie Alder set a challenging track with trouble spots coming at fence seven, a wide triple bar set three strides out of the corner, and a difficult double combination at fence 12. Of the 27 challengers, only six produced clear rounds to advance to the jump-off.

Sharn Wordley of New Zealand got things started with a clear round in a time 40.46 seconds riding Fall Kheer for owner Libby McKinney. Ft. Lauderdale's Danielle Torano came next aboard Sea Coast Cantona Z, but a fallen rail at fence 5b followed by a refusal at the next fence left Danielle with eight jumping plus six time faults for a total of 14. Canada's Angela Covert-Lawrence of St. Lazare, QC, was showing Unica in her first grand prix, and the 10-year-old grey Belgian Warmblood mare responded with a clear round in a time of 42.81 seconds.

Next up was another Canadian, Sulu Rose Reed, who makes her home in Manakin, Virginia. Riding Gannon, owned by The Galloping Field, Rose Reed made some tight turns on the course and stopped the clock at 40.25 to move into the lead.

Daisy Johnson, 19, of New York, NY, was the next challenger and was clear on VDL Oscar, an 11-year-old grey Dutch Warmblood gelding, but was not quite fast enough, clocking in at 40.38. As the final challenger, Jimmy Torano, Danielle's husband, posted the fastest time of the day, 39.42 seconds, but two fallen rails with Marlo ended his chances of victory.

The win went to Rose Reed, 34, who was making her first trip to the winner's circle with Gannon, a 12-year-old grey Holsteiner gelding purchased in 2003 from Chuck Waters.

As for her strategy with Gannon, Rose Reed said, "I try to stay as calm as possible. If you get excited, or if you start kicking him, he will just start running through the jumps. I thought he jumped great when we warmed up, and then he jumped great in the ring. I just tried to go as fast as I could without knocking down the rail at the last fence."

For her victory, Rose Reed won $9,000 in prize money. The grand daughter of inaugural Jump Canada Hall of Fame inductee, Brigadier-General W. Denis Whitaker, Rose Reed is now continuing the riding tradition with her own daughter, Addison. The lucky three-year-old even gets to ride Gannon.

"He is the sweetest horse on the planet," raves Rose Reed. "He has great ground manners. My daughter rides him with me, I put her up in the saddle in front of me. He is the only horse in the barn that I will do that with."

Rose Reed will continue to show at the Vermont Summer Festival during week five, then will return to Virginia as she and her husband, Derek Reed, are closing on a new farm just outside of Richmond where they will start their own business together.

For the first time, the Vermont Summer Festival is pleased to offer live video streaming of all five competition rings for those who cannot attend the horse show in person. Visit www.livebroadcast.tv or www.vt-summerfestival.com for more information.

Week five of the six-week Vermont Summer Festival begins on Wednesday, August 8 with the 'Manchester and the Mountains Horse Show'. Now in its 14th year at Harold Beebe Farm in East Dorset, Vermont, the Vermont Summer Festival offers a total of $750,000 in prize money throughout the six weeks of competition, making it the richest sporting event in the state. Each week features a $10,000 Friday Open Welcome Stake, sponsored by Manchester Designer Outlets, and a $30,000 Sunday Grand Prix. The grand finale of the six-week Vermont Summer Festival is the $50,000 Vermont Summer Celebration Grand Prix on Sunday, August 19. For more information on the Vermont Summer Festival, please visit www.vt-summerfestival.com.

Rider Hometown Horse Faults Time
1. Sulu Rose Reed Canada Gannon 0:0 40.25
2. Daisy Johnson New York, NY Oscar VDL 0:0 40.38
3. Sharn Wordley New Zealand Fall Kheer 0:0 40.46
4. Angela Covert-Lawrence Canada Unica 0:0 42.81
5. Jimmy Torano Ft. Lauderdale, FL Marlo 0:8 39.43
6. Danielle Torano Ft. Lauderdale, FL Sea Coast Cantona Z 0:14
7. Sharn Wordley New Zealand Epson Pierreville 4
8. Kevin Babington Ireland Souvenir 4