VALENTINE and Jaime Auletto receive their award (AlCookPhoto.com)

Harrisburg, PA - Jaime Auletto, from Tabernackle, NJ, and her own bay mare VALENTINE were crowned Amateur Owner Hunter 3'3" Grand Hunter Champion this morning at the Pennsylvania National Horse Show. Auletto really didn't think they would win, but decided to 'just keep her braided'.

"I'm very surprised!" said Auletto. "That division is SO tough - Jane [Gaston] and Daryl [Portela] are both amazing".

Auletto imported the bay mare two years ago from Germany. "She was the very first horse I saw. She's very sweet. I call her the 'princess'", smiled Auletto. "We missed a lot of Florida last year due to the quarantine, but I think the extra time was actually good for her. I'm excited for her to move up to do the 3'6" next year".

Auletto and VALENTINE also won the Amateur Owner Hunter 3'3" 18-35 Championship. Reserve Champion went to Nicole Lyvere and her horse ALL IN.

"It's very exciting to win here", said Auletto. "I've been coming to Harrisburg since I was a little kid, but I've never been Champion here so it's really cool".

Daryl Portela and WINNER, owned by Isalou, Inc., did just that by taking the Amateur Owner Hunter 3'3" 36 & Over Championship. Jane Gaston and her horse AMARILLO took Reserve Champion. 

"It's exciting", said Portela. "I was Champion and Grand Champion here last year on him, so I wanted to come back here this year and be Champion again. We've been pretty consistent and I've had a great year on him".

The Pennsylvania National Horse Show, the 2011 National Show Hunter Hall of Fame Horse Show of the Year and the sixth ranked horse show in North America in the 2012 North American Riders Group (NARG) annual rankings, is one of the largest indoor horse shows in the U.S.  It hosts horses and competitors from across the country with 10,000 spectators attending from the Mid-Atlantic region.

With over 1,400 qualified horses competing for $450,000 in prize money, the show features Hunter and Jumper competition and is the site of the Pessoa/US National Hunter Seat Medal Final Presented by Randolph College, the Randolph College/USEF National Junior Jumper Championships, North American League (NAL) National Finals and the $85,000 Grand Prix de Penn National.