Mark Bluman won the CSI5* 1.50m $62,500 qualifier, presented by Hagyard Equine Medical Institute, aboard Landon de Nyze ahead of Rene Dittmer and Christian Kukuk. Photo © MLSJ/Meraki Creative Group.
Press release from Major League Show Jumping, edited by World of Showjumping
Season 5 of Major League Show Jumping (MLSJ) resumed to the tune of the Colombian anthem as Mark Bluman won the CSI5* 1.50m $62,500 qualifier, presented by Hagyard Equine Medical Institute, aboard Landon de Nyze (Comilfo Plus Z x Quadrillo) on Thursday at MLSJ Leg 8. The evening marked The League’s debut at the Kentucky International in Lexington, Ky., held alongside the iconic Defender Kentucky three-day event.
Seven of the world’s top 10 took to Olympic course designer Guilherme Jorge’s (BRA) course, with 14 advancing to an all-deciding jump-off from an opening round that brought 46 to the starting blocks. After six riders chose to save their horses for the remainder of the weekend’s competition, eight advanced to the shortened second round. Picking up where they left off in the desert as winners of the MLSJ Leg 6 qualifier in California, Bluman and his 13-year-old Zangersheide gelding did it again for owners Aaram Ampagoumian, LLC.
German Olympic Champion and world no. 9, Christian Kukuk, set the pace as the first to return aboard Akarad Tivoli Z (Akarad Hero Z x Landwind II), a 10-year-old Zangersheide gelding that joined Kukuk’s string earlier this year and has already carried him to two five-star podium finishes. They posted a conservative 43.02-second time before fellow German and Team Helios rider Rene Dittmer bested his countryman by more than three seconds in a time of 39.46, riding 13-year-old Corsica X (Connor 48 x Corofino II). Germany clinched the bottom two spots on the podium with Kukuk in third and Dittmer second for owners Glen Haven Farm and Sportpferde Dittmer GmbH.
Mark Bluman and Landon de Nyze. Photo © MLSJ/Meraki Creative Group.
Bluman made strategic use of Landon’s foot speed and agility to stop the clock at 38.38 seconds for the win.
“The horse went amazing tonight, and the jump-off was fast,” said Bluman of Landon de Nyze, the former mount of his cousin Daniel, as well as the team gold and individual silver-medal winning ride for world no. 2 Kent Farrington at the 2023 Pan American Games. “I did one less than everyone else to the last, and I think that’s where I shaved the second off Rene.
“I try to ride my round every time and hope that it’s fast enough to take the win,” continued the Maccabi United rider. “Holding back today doesn’t mean I’m going to jump clear on Saturday, so I take it class by class, and hopefully this week it translates to a [grand prix] win.”
The eight-point qualifier win for Bluman extended Maccabi United’s lead in the MLSJ season standings. They now sit 45 points ahead of the Trelawny Trailblazers with the Roadrunners in third. Bluman is now on the bubble just outside the top 10 individual standings.
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