DEVON.Pa.--Aaron Vale on Carissimo 25 was the Leading Open Jumper Rider after winning the $226,000 Sapphire Devon Grand Prix, and his mount Carissimo 25 was Open Jumper Champion on Saturday evening, May 31 at the Devon Horse Show and Country Fair.
Aaron Vale on Carissimo 25 at theLeague of Nations Final in Barcelona (Photo by DidiShots)"I've had some nice results at Devon, but this was the best," said Vale."With the history of this horse show, adding your name to the list of riders that have won this is special."
Vale has arguably won more jumper classes than any other jumper rider, but many of those wins have come at lower rated shows and not in top international competition.
Now, finally, at age 56 he has a top horse that complements his riding ability.
"I've had some nice horses, but never one of Carissimo's caliber," said Vale.
As to riding in and winning Nation Cups, Vale said, "It's awesome."
"Ownership wise, it's created some interest," he said.
With his international wins, Vale is now getting people to buy him other horses capable of winning at the top levels.
Vale and Carissimo will next fly to Europe, where they will compete at the League of Nations in Rotterdam and then at Aachen.
"This will be my first time at Aachen," said Vale. "It's the Super Bowl of horse sports."
"I'm taking Carissimo and Styles, a nice young horse thst I'm taking for the experience," said Vale. "And I'm taking I Adermie R 4 for the speed classes. She's won a lot of speed classes, and they have some nice speed classes at Aachen."
MARK BLUMAN of Columbia on Ubiluc won the final jumper class, the $145,100 Idle Dice Stake, but that was his only win of the week.
Mark Bluman on Ubiluc (Photo by Kind Media)Kaitlin Campbell, who won the Devon Speed Derby, was Leading Lady Rider.
No one won more than one of the five jumper classes, with Mark's cousin Daniel Bluman of Israel winning the Welcome Stake, and McLain Ward winning the Two-Phase.
"My plan was not to ride Ubiluc tomight," said Mark Bluman."I told him if you're in the top three you don't have to jump Saturday, but we were ninth so we went tonight. One of the things on my bucket list was to have a win at Devon, so he's making dreams com true."
"My horse was unbelievable,"said Bluman. "The atmosphere here is amazing."
"I purchased this horse when he was 6, and a couple of years later Daniel took him over," he said. "Then one summer I was lacking horses, and Daniel had too many, so I took him back."
Bluman brothers Mark and Ilan and cousin Daniel are all in business together and often swap horses back and forth.
From a class of 33, well over half of the class, 19, went clean, and of those, 10 were clean in the jump-off.
"With a jump-off like that,the only thing you can do is to do something crazy," said Blluman. "Coming to the last, I knew if I cleared it, it basically was done."
Bluman was clean in 34.20, Darragh Kenny of Ireland on Cosmos BH was second in 35.51, Nayal Nassar of Egypt on Igo van de Wittemoere was third in 35.60,and Bluman was also fourth on Ireland in 36.18.
Ward, a crowd favorite, had unlucky rails throughout the week to just miss more wins.
Ward is an incredibly busy rider and trainer.
His daughter Lilly competed in Small and Medium Pony Hunters at Devon while McLain was delivering two clean rounds to anchor the U.S. team to a win in the Nations Cup in Rome before flying home to ride at Devon..
At Devon, he helped school two or three jumper riders, including Baylee McKeever, who was sixth in the Grand Prix.
He left Devon Saturday to compete in the $75,000 Grand Prix at HITS in Saugerties, N.Y., where he placed second on Princess Dalou H before returning to Devon that night to compete in the Idle Dice Stake, where he was one of those clean in the first round.
Following Devon, he flew back to France to ride at La Baule from June 4-8.
Earlier in the day on Saturday, Madison Papariello on Abril Kontendra won the $20,000,1/45m Amateur Jumper Classic, clean in 42.886, with Collin Reynolds on La Rocelle second with eight faults in a two horse jump-off.
Melisa Strawser on Darwin de Mars was Amateur Jumper Champion, with Papariello Reserve.
On Sunday, the final day of Devon, Susan Tice-Grossmann's Rockwell FV, handled by Drew Taylor, was Best Young Horse after winning the 2-year-old other than thoroughbred class.
Dawn Taylor-Bell's Dynasty, handled by Jay Roach, was Best Pennsylvania-bred Horse after winning the 2-year-od Filly class.and Roach was Leading Handler.
