Section 2


Daniel Bluman Wins for Israel at Royal Horse Show


Toronto, Ontario - Israel’s Daniel Bluman won the $85,000 GroupBy “Big Ben” Challenge on Thursday night, November 8, at the CSI4*-W Royal Horse Show, held as part of the 96th Royal Agricultural Winter Fair Toronto, ON.


in


It has pretty much the same weapons that mine has to win a class like this one. I won by a frac- tion of a second. I got lucky also. I could have been second place, but it was meant to be for me tonight.” At 28 years of age, Bluman


livering a fantastic clear in 35.26 seconds aboard Count Me In, owned by Sandy Lupton, to round out the top five.


Captain Brian Cournane Cap- tures $36,000 Brickenden Tro- phy Victory Captain Brian Cournane


of Ireland enjoyed a win in the $36,000 Brick- enden Trophy Interna- tional Jumpers riding Penelope Cruz on Thurs- day afternoon. From a starting field of


Challenge riding Ladriano Z on Thursday night, November 8, at the CSI4*-W Royal Horse Show in Toronto, ON. Photo by Ben Radvanyi Photography


Twenty-two of the world’s


top show jumping athletes entered the Coca-Cola Coliseum in the hopes of scoring victory in the $85,000 GroupBy “Big Ben” Challenge, a sentimental favourite at the Royal Horse Show named for Ian Millar’s former mount. Eleven mastered the track set by 2018 World Championship course designer, Alan Wade of Ireland, to advance to the jump-off. In the tie-breaker, Bluman


saved the best for last, cruising to a clear round in a time of 32.34 seconds riding Ladriano Z, a 10- year-old Zangersheide gelding owned by Alexa Schwitzer and Blue Star Investments. As the final challenger, Bluman knew the vic- tory was his, and celebrated along with the packed house. Devin Ryan, who recently helped the United States become World Champions, rode his top mount, Eddie Blue, to a clear round in a time of 32.53 seconds to finish runner-up. “I had the advantage of going


last,” said Bluman, who repre- sented the Israeli Show Jumping Team in its first World Champi- onship appearance in September. “Devin’s horse is a very fast horse.


has been competing at the Royal Horse Show for several years and appreciated the crowd’s support as he went for the win. “My first year competing


here was 2011; Eric Lamaze got me an invitation,” said Bluman. “I’ve come almost every year since then. I really, really love it. It’s a fantastic city, and it’s a fan- tastic crowd. When you jump in a place that has a crowd and has an atmosphere, the whole energy changes and your desire to win also changes. We go to a lot of competitions, but when you’re at a show like this, every class you compete in, you want to perform. Forget about the prize money, for- get about the world ranking points, forget about anything else; you just want to be the best that you can be for the crowd. That’s what makes it fun!” Catherine Tyree of the United


States took third place with a clear round in a time of 33.32 seconds riding Bokai while Australia’s Rowan Willis and Blue Movie were fourth after crossing the timers in 34.52 seconds. Canadian Olympian Beth Underhill of Schomberg, ON, set the pace as the first to go in the jump-off, de-


Daniel Bluman had the crowd cheering as he won the $85,000 GroupBy “Big Ben”


19 entries representing eight different countries, nine combinations ad- vanced to the jump-off over Wade’s course. The leading time continued to get progressively faster throughout the jump-off, with the final entry of Cournane and Penelope Cruz, his 10-year-old Irish Sport Horse mare,


stopping the clock in 28.69 seconds to take the win.


“She’s naturally a very quick


horse, so I knew that if I could do the distances and be tight, she cov- ers the ground very quickly,” said Cournane, who acquired the mare from fellow Irishman Darragh Kerins a year ago. “I had to have a lot of confidence in her to do the tight turns and trust that those jumps would stay up and that we’d be fast. “I’m so honoured to be here,”


continued Cournane, who is com- peting at The Royal for the first time. “It’s a wonderful show, and I’ve heard so many great things about it. I was first reserve on the invited riders’ list for a couple of weeks; I was really hoping I’d get in and, at the end, I did!” While Cournane is new to the


Royal Horse Show, he’s very fa- miliar with this year’s Royal Horse Show course designer. “It’s very funny; when I was


a kid doing hunter trials in Ireland, I was 16 or 17, and Alan was building the courses back then,” said Cournane, 36. “Now we’re at The Royal, and he’s building! It’s incredible.” With less than a second sep-


Continued On Page 26


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Section 2 INSIDE


Big Ben Challenge......................25 Isabelle Lapierre .........................26 Canadian Dressage Awards.........26 Weston Canadian Open...............27 Lynn Palm...................................28 Vanessa Creech-Terauds .............29 Green Meadows Coaching..........29 In Memoriam: Ole ......................29 Horse Listening...........................30 Fire Safety Visit ..........................30 Barbara Mitchell .........................32 Para-Dressage Videos .................32 Royal Photos...............................33


Equine Wellness..........................34 Between The Ears .......................35 Jump Canada Hall Of Fame........35 Lindsay Grice..............................36 Lauren Bode: The Fire Horse .....36 Artisan Farms..............................37 Saddle Fit ....................................38 Classifieds, Directory Ads.....39-43 OFA Commentary.......................43 Real Estate ..................................44 Polo with Ruth Armstrong..........45 Equine Canada News..................46 Rider Fitness ...............................47


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