LAKE PLACID, New York – Just three-tenths of a second . . . that’s all Jeff Welles of Newtown needed to win the recent $50,000 Budweiser Grand Prix at the 31st annual Lake Placid Horse Show.

Welles was one of nine entries from the starting field of 44 to qualify for a tie-breaking jump-off by riding without penalty over the 16-jump, first-round course at the North Elba Show Grounds in Lake Placid. Then, riding second over the eight-jump, tiebreaker course, Welles rode S&L Riviera, an 8-year-old Dutch-bred horse, to a time of 39.708 seconds to take the lead.

The next five entries failed to catch Welles, but the second-to-last rider, Margie Goldstein-Engle of Wellington, Fla., appeared to have taken the lead on her 12-year-old Holsteiner, Reggae. _Goldstein-Engle, the five-time American Grand Prix Association Rider of the Year, finished in 37.233 seconds, but knocked a rail down on the second-to-last fence for four penalty seconds and finished fourth.

Kimberly Frey of Middleburg, Va., placed second with a time of 40.008 seconds on Bergerac, an 11-year-old Selle Francais.

Welles explained that he rode S&L Riviera as fast as he could because he knew he had fast competitors going after him.

 “I knew Margie was going after me,” he said, “as well as some other fast entries, so I rode to get the fastest time I could. I’m glad it worked out.”

On Saturday, Welles rode Penelope to victory in the Mirror Lake Inn Speed Stake. Welles was the eighth of 32 starters to try the 14-jump, one-round course at the North Elba Show Grounds. He rode Penelope to the first penalty-free ride of the day and finished with a time of 60.457 seconds to take over the lead.

None of the next 23 entries were able to beat Welles’s time until the day’s final entry, Laura Kraut of Oconomowoc, WI, winner of last Sunday’s $100,000 Rolex U.S. Show Jumping Championship at the U.S. Equestrian Team Olympic Training Center in Gladstone, New Jersey. Kraut, currently the top ranked rider among the 12 finalists for the U.S. Equestrian Team’s Olympic show jumping squad, finished the course in 60.124 seconds. However, her mount, Z Max, lowered rails at two of the last three fences for eight penalty seconds and an adjusted score of 68.124, which gave her a seventh-place finish.

Second place went to 1999 Pan American Games double Silver Medalist Peter Wylde of Dover Plains, NY who finished in 62.026 seconds on Job and third went to McLain Ward of Brewster, NY who finished with a time of 34.493 seconds on 4 Seasons.

The Lake Placid Horse Show is one of the nation’s largest hunter-jumper shows with more than 1,000 horses competing. The Show features two Budweiser/AGA Grand Prix Series events – the $50,000 Budweiser Grand Prix of Lake Placid on July 2 and the $35,000 I Love New York Grand Prix on July 8.