Contact: Marty Bauman (518) 523-9625, classic.pr@verizon.net

Jeffery Welles Wins $60,000 Hermès Grandprix CSI 3*

Presented by the Heidegger Family at 29^th Annual I Love New York Horse Show

Welles Makes History as First Rider to Win $25,000 Hidden Creek Challenge

Lake Placid, NY—July 8, 2006—Jeffery Welles of Brewster, NY, rode Armani to victory in the $60,000 Hermès Grandprix CSI 3* Presented by the Heidegger Family at the 29^th annual I Love New York Horse Show in Lake Placid.  Welles, who also won last week’s $60,000 Budweiser Grandprix of Lake Placid CSI 3* Presented by RV Sales of Broward, then made history by winning the $25,000 Hidden Creek Challenge.  The bonus is given to any horse-and-rider combination that wins both the Budweiser Grandprix of Lake Placid and the Hermès Grandprix.  This is the first time in its five years that someone has won the Hidden Creek Challenge.

Welles was also awarded the Richard and Diana Feldman Perpetual Challenge Trophy for Excellence that is given to the rider with the most total prize money in Lake Placid’s two Grand Prix events after he finished first in both the Hermès Grandprix and  the $60,000 Budweiser Grandprix of Lake Placid.

In the $60,000 Hermès Grandprix CSI 3* Presented by the Heidegger Family, Welles was one of 11 entries from the starting field of 37 to qualify for the tiebreaking jump-off in the by riding without penalty over the 17-jump, first-round course at the North Elba Showgrounds.   Welles then claimed the win by riding fault-free over the 7-jump tiebreaker course with a time of 30.36 seconds.

Placing second was McLain Ward, also of Brewster, NY, who completed the jump-off with no faults in a time of 31.08 on Sapphire.  Third went to Paige Johnson  who finished the jump-off with 0 penalties in 32.32 seconds on Kadena R

“I’ve been thinking about winning the Hidden Creek Challenge all week,” said Welles.  “Armani is a great horse and went so well two weeks in a row.  I knew I couldn’t be conservative in the jump-off…I knew I just had to go for it!”

Earlier in the day, Louis Jacobs rode Kachina to victory in the $10,000 Charlotte Bobcats Amateur-Owner Jumper Classic and Heather Dobbs rode Cobreitti to victory in the Marantz Family High Junior Jumper Classic.  Both classics are Show Jumping Hall of Fame Jumper Classic series events.  The standings on the Show Jumping Hall of Fame Jumper Classic Series help determine which junior riders and which amateur-owner riders will qualify to ride in the 2006 National Horse Show in Wellington, FL, in November.

Also featured on Saturday was the horse show’s 14^th annual Doggie Costume Contest, sponsored by the Lonesome Landing Garden Center of Saranac Lake and the Brown Dog Café & Wine Bar of Lake Placid.  More than 35 dogs participated in one of the most popular and fun events of the Lake Placid and I Love New York Horse Shows.

The 2006 Lake Placid Horse Show and I Love New York Horse Show sponsors include A&M Beverages, Adirondack Daily Enterprise, Adirondack Life, Adirondack Store, American Grandprix Association, Animal Planet, Anonymous, Bainbridge Farms LLC, Barbara & Michael Bitterman, Brandy Parfums, Ltd., The Brown Dog Café and Wine Bar, Budweiser, Carr-Hughes Productions, The Charlotte Bobcats, Chronicle of the Horse, Jane Forbes Clark, C.M. Hadfield’s Saddlery, Inc., Clothes Line Laundry, The Cottage Café, The Country Saddler, Ltd., Crowne Plaza Resort & Golf Club, David R. Fowler Custom Tack Trunks, Deeridge Farms, Der Dau Custom Boots and Shoes, Ecogold, Equifit, Farm and Ranch Magazine, Fox Run, Ltd., Golden Arrow Hotel, Grill 211,  Mr. James Harpel, The Heidegger Family, Hermès, Hilton Lake Placid Resort, The Hooker Family, Horse Watch, James Leslie Parker Photography, Juliam Farm, The Kessler Family, Lake Placid/Essex County Visitors Bureau,  Lake Placid News, The Leone Family, The Levy Family, Lonesome Landing Garden Center, The Marantz Family, McDonald’s, Mirror Lake Inn, Moss Communications, Mountain Horse, Mr. Mike’s Pizza & Pasta, Muirfield Insurance, Nicola’s On Main, North Elba Park District, On a Fence Designs & Rentals, ORDA/Whiteface Mountain, The Pepsi Bottling Group, The Phillips Family, Price Chopper, Mr. Jeffrey Prosser, Red-Kap Sales,  Royal Reflections, Ruthie’s Run, RV Sales of Broward, Sand Castle Farm, Michael & Lora Schultz, Sidelines, SLVR by Aerogear, Stretton Enterprises, Turtle Lane Farm, The Weeks Family, The Whiteface Lodge, Wild Horse Wines, Woodlea Farms, WPTZ News Channel 5, and Y106.3 – Mountain Communications LLC.

For more information, please call the Lake Placid Horse Show Association at (518) 523-9625 or visit www.lakeplacidhorseshow.com.  Results of the 2006 I Love New York Horse Show are available at: www.stadiumjumping.com/sj/cfm/result.cfm?show_id=204.

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