Devon, Pa.—May 31

On Thursday night before the Sapphire Grand Prix of Devon, Mark Bluman told his mount Ubiluc, “If you’re top 3, you don’t jump on Saturday.” The pair didn’t quite get it done, finishing ninth after having one down. So Bluman decided to give it a shot in the final FEI class of the Devon Horse Show, the $145,100 Idle Dice Open Jumper Stake.

He had his work cut out for him though: Of the 35 entries, 19 went clear to advance to the jump-off. With that many in the class, you’ve got to take some risks, and that’s exactly what Bluman did.

“In jump-offs like this, honestly, the only thing you can do is something crazy,” he said. “And I did basically the two crazy things that you could do in this kind of jump-off, and it paid out. It works probably one out of 10 times. And today was one of them.”

Bluman opened up Ubiluc’s massive stride in the first line before executing a tight rollback to the plank. With that, he was up on the clock, and as he powered down to the final oxer, the Colombian rider felt confident that he could catch current leader Darragh Kenny and Cosmos BH.

“I knew coming to the last if I cleared it, I had it,” Bluman said. “I saw the round of Darragh’s, and Darragh didn’t take any of the risks that I took, so coming to the last, I knew that if I cleared it, it was basically done.”

He overtook Kenny by a wide margin, stopping the clock in 34.20 seconds to Kenny’s 35.51 seconds. Just two riders remained in the class, both known to be quite fast: Thursday’s grand prix winner Aaron Vale and McLain Ward. But both of them were on newer mounts, and Vale opted for a more reserved clear round for 10th, while Ward attempted a tight rollback after the first line but pulled a rail to finish 16th.

Bluman has earned several podium placings at Devon, but he’d never had a major win there before this class.

“My horse is unbelievable,” he said. “It’s been great over the last few years. He’s making dreams come true. Winning here at the Dixon Oval was one of them. And the atmosphere is amazing, and to get the crowd going is actually something very special.”

Bluman’s family first purchased the 13-year-old Mecklenburg stallion (Ubiko—Lucze, Lucian) when he was 6. Initially, Mark showed him as a 6- and 7-year-old before his cousin Daniel Bluman took over the ride. Two years ago, Mark was light on horses, and Daniel’s string was flush, so Mark regained the ride in what he’s described as a great partnership.

“We know each other inside out,” he said. “I use him in shows where I know he’s always good, like he was third in the grand prix here last year. So I only bring him to shows where I know he likes, and it’s been great.”

The Chronicle has a pair of reporters at Devon bringing you photos, stories from the competition and more at coth.com. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram to make sure you don’t miss a thing. You can see a full report from the entire competition in the June 20 issue of The Chronicle of the Horse magazine.

Important Links: Devon Horse Show website / Detailed schedule / Results and orders of go / All the Chronicle’s coverage