Edited press release from Desert International Horse Park

In what came down to an exciting duel, Colombia’s Mark Bluman rode away with the first major CSI5* victory of his career on Friday, December 13, at the Desert International Horse Park in Thermal, CA. Bluman and Concare PS (Conthargos x Cornet Obolensky) were one of just two entries to advance to the jump-off, where they ultimately took home the win in the $200,000 CSI5* 1.55m MLSJ BRAINJAVAClassic.

Course designer Alan Wade, along with Colm Quinn, set a challenging first-round track for the Friday-night featured class at Desert Holiday 2, with 38 entries taking it on. As the ninth to jump, U.S. Olympian Laura Kraut and Tres Bien Z (Toulon x Nabab de Reve) made the course look easy, producing the first clear round of the evening.

From there however, the class continued to progress without any further fault-free efforts, and much of the audience waited on the edge of their seats to see if there would be a jump-off. Then, as the 36th to jump, Bluman and Concare PS were met with much applause as they guaranteed that there would be a second round.

While Kraut and Bluman were the only fault-free riders, six others were clear over the fences, accumulating just time penalties. Finishing with just one time penalty apiece were Emilie Conter with Portobella van de Fruitkorf (Bamako de Muze x Nabab de Eeve) in third place, Roberto Teran Tafur on Dez’ Ooktoff (Colandro x Lys Rouge) in fourth place and Amy Millar aboard Jagger HX (Ustinov x Bustique) in fifth place.

With those placings determined, it was on to the showdown between Bluman and Kraut. Kraut returned first to lay down what appeared to be an extremely quick double clear effort, crossing the timers in 37.93 seconds with Tres Bien Z, owned by St. Bride’s Farm.

Bluman, though, found a way to shave 0.45 seconds off to take home the win in 37.48 seconds.

“She did nine strides down the middle; I did eight, she did nine,” said Bluman of where he may have made up the small difference. “I think that’s where I actually got my time.”

In speaking of the course, Bluman continued, “When I walked the course, it looked like a good track. I thought there were going to be plenty clear. I thought we were going to have a fast jump-off, but as the class went on, it was riding more difficult than what it actually looked like when we walked. That’s the beauty of having Alan Wade building here. He’s an unbelievable course designer.”

Wade’s courses also well suit Concare PS, Bluman’s winning mount and his partner of just the past several months.

“I’ve had had [Concare PS] since May, and actually recently, I just bought a part of her together with a friend of mine,” said Bluman of the 10-year-old Oldenburg mare. “She’s a super horse with all the scope. Classes like the one today, with not that many clears, suit her because she’s not the fastest, so it was a good time to try to get the win, and she performed unbelievably.”