J’Aime La Vie’s small stature–he stands just 15.3 hands–didn’t stand in his way as he beat his larger rivals in the $35,000 Valley Classic Grand Prix, the feature of the July 28-Aug. 1 Valley Classic in East Dorset, Vt.

“He is small but quick,” said rider Tracy Bartko-Magness. She and the 13-year-old have placed second twice and third once in grand prix events this year. “But each time I had to go first in the jump-off. Today I finally got to go last, so I had a chance to watch the two others and knew exactly how fast I had to go. That–plus a little luck–made the difference.”

Bartko, 32, of Baltimore, Md., won with a clear round in 36.38 seconds. She rode against Mary Lisa Leffler, of Brookeville, Md., on Rolling Acres and McLain Ward’s Kartousch. Leffler set the time to beat with a clear trip in 38.09 seconds after a rough start.

“I was a little worried after the triple bar [the first fence in the jump-off], and she pumped there. I forgot where the saddle was, so I tried to make it up at the end,” said Leffler, who finished second. The 36-year-old spent May in Europe, showing and training under the tutelage of Katie Prudent. So Ken Krome’s technical route did not seem all that difficult to her after her experience abroad, but she did see some challenges.

“I knew the combination by the gate was going to get people because it lulled them into it,” said Leffler. That’s exactly where Holly Shepherd and Hilary Orr’s Jolly Jumper had the second of their rails down, to open the door for Bartko-Magness.

“I knew I was sitting on a fast [horse],and this was my chance to win. If I was quick to the last jump, I could, but I wanted to pull on the reins [there]. I knew if I did, I would knock it down,” said Bartko-Magness, who turned professional four years ago.

She found “Gem,” so named because of his kind disposition, after retiring her famed jumper, Paul Harvey. “Once I saw Gem it was love at first sight,” she recalled. “So [my parents and I] bought him for my sister [Wendy Libert], but she doesn’t show that much. So I get to ride him a lot.”

Full Of Surprises

Danielle Torano, 32, didn’t like Lojana when she first rode the bay, Mechlenburg mare, who won the $10,000 Show Jumping Hall of Fame Amateur-Owner Jumper Classic. The 11-year-old posted a double-clear round in 31.17 seconds as the last to go in the five-horse tiebreaker.

“This is the only class she does with me, and she’s won it the past two weeks here at the Vermont Summer Festival. I went in today thinking she could not do it again, but she has proved me wrong her whole career,” said Torano, of Key Biscayne, Fla.

Torano’s husband, trainer Jimmy Torano, shouted advice to her–but she had some doubts about his instruction. “Lojana doesn’t have a very large stride, so I thought I couldn’t do eight [in the two places Jimmy urged her to], but I have to trust him and her. I have to be careful going fast with her because if she goes too fast I can’t get her back,” she said.

Jimmy found the bay mare on a trip to Germany six years ago. He never rode her, just watched her jump before purchasing her. Danielle rode her when she came out of quarantine during the Wellington (Fla.) winter show series.

“I hated her. She is not a pleasant horse to work because she is so strong. She pulls and my right arm wants to fall off, so Jimmy and I trade off working her,” she said.

Despite that, Danielle and Lojana were the 2000 Show Jumping Hall of Fame Amateur-Owner Jumper champions, and Danielle won her first grand prix on her at Culpeper (Va.) in 2002. Last year the mare sustained ankle injuries that required surgery and a six-month lay-up before the pair worked their way back up from the low, then medium and finally high amateur-owner jumper classes.

Nikki Ritter of Geneva, Fla., was reunited with an old friend to win the $10,000 Show Jumping Hall of Fame Junior Jumper Classic. Burning Cat Ballou, a 17-year-old, bay Oldenburg who “has a passport bigger than mine,” said Ritter, was the European junior jumper champion and has shown in Japan, at Aachen (Germany) and at other international shows.

The Ritters were looking for a safe horse who was seasoned enough to do the high junior jumpers and bought him at the Winter Equestrian Festival (Fla.) last year. They sold him to Linda Bakker of Charleston, S.C., for her to use in the low adult jumpers, but Bakker let Ritter, a high school sophomore, ride him in Vermont.

When it came to the final round, Ritter knew that Gabby Slome’s horse was faster than his. “So I cut as many corners as I could,” said Ritter, who is in a special magnet school studying Internet technology. “I want to be a professional, but if that doesn’t work I can fall back on being a systems data analyst with my degree.”

He also was seventh in the class with his own mare Quo Quo Z, a 17.1-hand, bay Argen-tine mare the Ritters bought two months ago. And he won the Washington International Equitation Classic, putting him on track for the finals.

Primetime Entertainment

Regular working hunter Primetime does double duty, serving as trainer Frake Van De Meer’s open mount and as an amateur-owner entry for Jessica Dillon of Dover, Mass. Van De Meer, of Saddle Rows Farm, found the chestnut Holsteiner gelding, now 8, four years ago from Canadian Olympian Jay Hayes.

“I was so excited about taking him in the regular hunters because I haven’t done hunters in six years,” said Van De Meer, who rode off
with the tricolor. “With my foolish head, I volunteered to do the regulars with him. I am from Belgium and had never ridden hunters there, so I wasn’t comfortable with them until he showed me how to do it. When it comes time for him to go in the ring, he is all business and loves what he does.”

The gelding qualified for indoors with Van De Meer, who hopes to take him to the Capital Challenge (Md.) and to the Marshall & Sterling finals in Worcester (Mass.) this year.

Deborah Perkins put aside her desire to ride while raising her family, but she came back to it three years ago when her daughter gave up her interest in riding. Perkins, 45, scored the adult amateur, 36-45, championship with her Heart & Soul. When she first returned to the saddle, she took over her daughter’s equitation mount, then went on to an adult amateur horse named Contender.

Under the tutelage of her trainer, Jimmy Toon, the two were amateur-owner circuit champions at last year’s Vermont Summer Festival series before she sold Contender and turned to her 16.2-hand, bay, Hanoverian gelding.

“Last week we were the reserve champions of my age group. We hadn’t put it all together by then, but this week we did,” said Perkins, of New Canaan, Conn. An interior designer, she specializes in locating antiques for her clients.

“Jimmy bought this horse as a 3-year-old and let him grow up out in the field. Shachine Belle [a trainer and rider for Toon] showed him in the pre-greens and then Jimmy took him to Ox Ridge [Conn.] and Fairfield [Conn.] where he was champion,” she said. “I started with him in May. We had a steering problem then, but since then, he has come an incredibly long way.”

They also were second in the Marshall & Sterling adult amateur hunter classic, scoring a 77 and 80.