Julie Welles of Wellington, FL, was first, second and third in the $30,000 Manchester & the Mountains Grand Prix, winning aboard Virginia W Z on Saturday, August 1 at the 2015 Vermont Summer Festival in East Dorset, VT. The Vermont Summer Festival runs for six consecutive weeks, from June 30 through August 9, at Harold Beebe Farm. Turning in flawless trips on her multiple mounts, Welles posted three double-clear performances over tracks built by Gerry Briggs (USA). With a total of 22 entires in the class, Welles was the first to jump clear over the original course before later adding her other two mounts to a five-horse jump-off against Leann Kelly of Valatie, NY, and David Raposa of Clinton, NY. Welles returned first over the short course aboard Twan for owners Missy Clark and Stephex Stables. Their clear effort in 36.65 seconds set the pace. She entered the ring next in the irons of Virginia W Z and bested herself by crossing the timers three tenths of a second faster in 36.32 seconds. Both Kelly with her own Leander and Raposa on his own Waultraut fought to catch Welles in the next two trips, but pulled rails to bump themselves to the bottom of the top five. Despite having the class already won, the final ride in the jump-off belonged to Welles aboard Bazooka De Muze for Missy Clark and North Run. They broke the beam clear in 42.52 seconds to settle in third behind Twan and the class winner Virginia W Z. Kelly and Leander's four faults and time of 36.68 seconds gave them fourth, while Raposa and Waultraut settled for fifth on 12 faults in 38.77 seconds. Welles was honored with prizes for her win, including a scrim from Mona's Monograms, and the Vermont Summer Festival also recognized her groom with the weekly Grand Prix Groom Award. In recognition of his hard work to prepare Virginia W Z for grand prix competition, Arturo Vidal was presented with a monogrammed jacket and coolerette from sponsor Glenn Geary of Horsewatch.
