Daniel Bluman and Apardi (Sportfot)

Wellington, FL - The $20,000 Adequan 8-Year-Old Jumper Classic Final was the last class of the day with a win for Colombia's Daniel Bluman and Apardi, a KWPN stallion by Corland x Kannan, owned by Ricardo & Alberto Simhon. Sixty-seven entries showed in the class with 12 clear rounds to advance to the jump-off where only three were able to jump double clear. Bluman and Apardi completed the short course in the winning 39.640 seconds. Laura Kraut and Stars and Stripes' Bonito R finished second in 39.881 seconds. Cian O'Connor and Andreas Herskovits' Carlo 343 were third in 40.393 seconds.

Apardi is a new ride for Bluman that he recently got from Colombia four months ago. The horse had been with the same rider in Colombia since he was six months old and is now adjusting well to his new rider. Bluman noted, "He is a full brother to Jos Lansink's horse Bacardi, which is also a really good horse over in Europe at the moment. We just started working and he has been developing. We started in the lower classes jumping first the high schooling, then the 1.30m, 1.35m, now he has been jumping some bigger classes in the 1.40m and 1.45m and today he won an important class for him, so we are very happy."

The class was held with an option to jump-off immediately following the round or wait until the end of the class, and Bluman opted to jump-off right after his round. He explained, "I walked the first course and I thought it was good. There were some very careful jumps, but I think the horse felt really comfortable with the course. I felt he jumped it really easy the first round, so I decided to stay in for the jump-off instead of coming out and I just sort of let him go as fast as he could possibly go for the stage that he is at in his progress. We got a little bit lucky. Some of the people that jumped off had a rail down or something happened that they ended up being a little slow and it was meant to be for us, so that's good."

Apardi is a stallion, so Bluman admits that he can be playful, but says that he is very easy to deal with.

"He is a horse with great potential," the rider stated. "He had been ridden by only one rider his whole life, so at the beginning of the transition to get to know each other and to make him adapt to my system took us a little bit of work. It took a couple of months without doing any jumping. It was only flat work and dressage, but he always wants to learn and it is a good thing. Even though he is playful, he is willing to learn what you are trying to teach him, so it is a perfect horse to have in the barn."

Final Results: $20,000 Adequan 8-Year-Old Jumper Classic Final  

1. APARDI        DANIEL BLUMAN      RICARDO & ALBERTO SIMHON: 0/0/39.640
2. BONITO R    LAURA KRAUT          STARS AND STRIPES: 0/0/39.881
3. CARLO 343          CIAN O'CONNOR       ANDREAS HERSKOVITS: 0/0/40.393
4. SHORAPUR          KEVIN BABINGTON    KEVIN BABINGTON: 0/4/38.906
5. CARAMELLO Z       RAMIRO QUINTANA   ST. BRIDE'S FARM: 0/4/38.963
6. ARISTA      CONOR SWAIL          CHRISTINE SWAIL: 0/4/40.903
7. CEQUILA    DARRAGH KENNY      OAKLAND VENTURES LLC: 0/4/42.230
8. FIONA VAN'T PARADIJS   RICHIE MOLONEY      EQUINIMITY LLC: 0/8/41.695
9. REVE DU PARADIS          EMANUEL ANDRADE  HOLLOW CREEK FARM: 0/8/41.936
10. JOLLY JOKER       DANIEL ZETTERMAN  SPRINGFIELD SHOWJUMPERS: 0/8/42.857
11. CENTURIO          GERMAN CAMARGO   GERMAN CAMARGO: 0/8/45.365
12. BABALOU 41       TODD MINIKUS        KATHRYN HAEFNER LLC: 0/10/49.145