FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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

 

Jeff Welles Wins $60,000 Budweiser Grandprix of Lake Placid CSI 3* Presented by RV Sales of Broward

to Close 37th Annual Lake Placid Horse Show

Lake Placid, NY—July 2, 2006—Jeff Welles of Newtown, CT rode Armani to victory over a 34-horse field in the $60,000 Budweiser Grandprix of Lake Placid CSI 3* Presented by RV Sales of Broward to close the 37th annual Lake Placid Horse Show.

Welles, 44, was the first to try the 16-jump, first-round course at the North Elba Showgrounds.  He guided his 11-year-old, Dutch Warmblood with whom he was named to the five-rider U.S. squad for the show jumping World Championships at the World Equestrian Games in Aachen, Germany in August to a fault-free ride.

The next 22 entries tried and failed to match Welles’s clean ride until Simon Nizri of Mexico City turned the trick on Cataro Ask, a 12-year-old Holsteiner.  When the remaining entries failed to go clean over the Pierre Jolicoeur-designed course it came down to a two-horse jump-off between Welles, who won the event in 2000 on S&L Riviera, and Nizri, who was competing at Lake Placid for the first time.

Welles returned first over the nine-jump tiebreaker course and turned in another fault-free ride, finishing in 47.70 seconds.  Nizri, 27, then finished in 49.49 seconds, giving Welles his first win of the year.

“Generally, the preference is to see a few horses go first and not lead off the class,” said Welles, “but it was really less of a factor today.  There were very few options in striding and the horse had jumped well all week.  The only concern might have been the time, but I just went as smooth and direct as I could and we finished well under.”

Prior to the Grandprix, Julie Welles of West Simsbury, CT rode Felix Des Noues to victory in the $10,000 Pepsi Bottling Company High Junior Jumper Classic and Louis Jacobs of East Aurora, NY rode Kachina to victory in the $10,000 Mirror Lake Inn High Amateur-Owner Jumper Classic.  Both classes are member events of the Show Jumping Hall of Fame Jumper Classic Series, a national tour for junior and amateur-owner riders with year-end championship finals at the National Horse Show in Wellington, FL in November.

Welles topped a field of 26 entries, seven of whom reached the jump-off with clean rounds over the initial course.  Welles was then one of three who rode clean in the jump-off and her time of 32.536 seconds gave her the win and also the horse show’s High Junior Jumper Championship.

Jacobs topped a field of 36, only four of whom managed clean rounds to reach the jump-off.  In the jump-off, Jacobs was the only one to go clean, giving him the victory and also propelling him the horse show’s High Amateur-Owner Jumper Championship.  Jacobs and Welles then joined the horse show’s other champions in the C.M. Hadfield’s Saddlery Parade of Champions.

Also preceding the Grandprix was the Juliam Farm Lead Line Class, always a favorite at Lake Placid when the horse show’s youngest competitors, all under age 7, get their chance to ride in the Richard M. Feldman Grandprix Field.

With the close of the Lake Placid Horse Show, the 29th annual I Love New York Horse Show follows at the North Elba Showgrounds, July 4-9.  The highlight is the $60,000 Hermès Grandprix CSI 3* Presented by the Heidegger Family on Saturday, July 8.

The I Love New York Horse Shows also offers North American League, Washington International Horse Show, World Champion Hunter Rider, and Show Jumping Hall of Fame classes.

             Highlights of the I Love New York Horse Show schedule include:

Wed., July 5   WPTZ News Channel 5 1.35m Class

                        1.45m Farm & Ranch Magazine Open Speed Stake

Thu., July 6     1.40m Wild Horse Winery NAL Open Speed Stake

Fri., July 7      1.40m Lake Placid/Essex County Visitors Bureau Speed Challenge

Nicola’s Restaurants 1.45m Open Jumper class

Sat., July 8      Marantz Family High Junior Jumper Classic

Charlotte Bobcats Amateur-Owner Jumper Classic

Woodlea Farms Parade of Champions

$60,000 Hermès Grandprix CSI 3* presented by the Heidegger Family

Sun., July 9     Whiteface Lodge WIHS Adult Amateur Jumper Classic

The Levy Family Low Junior Jumper Classic

Low Amateur-Owner Jumper Classic

Price Chopper WIHS Children’s Jumper Classic

Pony Hunter Classic

Kathy Scholl Equitation Championship

 

After the Hermès Grandprix on July 8, the Richard and Diana Feldman Perpetual Challenge Trophy for Excellence will be awarded to the rider who has won the most prize money in Lake Placid’s two Grand Prix combined.  The Lake Placid Horse Shows also offer the $25,000 Hidden Creek Challenge with $25,000 to be awarded to any horse-and-rider combination that wins both the Budweiser Grandprix of Lake Placid CSI 3* and the Hermès Grandprix CSI 3*.

The I Love New York Horse Show features another beloved Lake Placid tradition, the 14th annual Doggie Costume Contest, on Saturday, July 8 at noon.  All people with leashed dogs in costume are admitted to the horse show free of charge.   The doggie costume contest is sponsored by the Lonesome Landing Garden Center of Saranac Lake and the Brown Dog Café and Wine Bar of Lake Placid.  There is no entry fee and all contestants receive prizes.

The horse show’s annual Animal Planet Kids’ Day returns on Friday, July 7 and includes activities such as a stable tour, jumper course walk, farrier visit, and question-and-answer seminar on safety in and out of the ring.  There is also a raffle, giveaways, and an autograph session with a top Grand Prix rider.  The day continues the Lake Placid Horse Shows’ long history of giving back to the local community.

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.

Admission to the Lake Placid and I Love New York Horse Shows is $2.00 on weekdays and $5.00 on weekends.  Children under the age of 12 are always admitted free.  Tickets are available at the gate.  For more information, please call the Lake Placid Horse Show Association at (518) 523-9625 or visit www.lakeplacidhorseshow.com.

Results of the 2006 Lake Placid Horse Show are available on line at: www.stadiumjumping.com/sj/cfm/result.cfm?show_id=203.

Results of the 2006 I Love New York Horse Show will be available at:  www.stadiumjumping.com/sj/cfm/result.cfm?show_id=204.