Handling the show jumping challenge on WEF’s big night

Talk about pressure! Last night, Bliss Heers found herself as the only American in a five-horse jump-off for the $406,000 Lugano Diamonds 5-star grand prix under the lights at the Palm Beach International Equestrian Center.

In 2021, when Covid restrictions limited the number of spectators at the Winter Equestrian Festival venue, Bliss recalled, “even winning the Nations Cup, there was really no home crowd.”

But this year, from the VIP area to the Tiki Hut, box seats and the Beachside dining area, the place was packed and fans were into the action.

“When I walked into the arena tonight for the jump-off and everyone was cheering, it was unbelievable,” Bliss recalled in a chat after the awards ceremony.

“You had the atmosphere; even my horse felt the adrenaline and the tension. It was so fun just feeling that. Galloping down to the last fence and hearing the crowd, it was unbelievable. It was a big responsibility. You don’t want to mess that up.”

And of course, she didn’t.

Next-to-last in the jumping order for the tie-breaker with her valiant little stallion, Antidote de Mars, she was shooting at a clear round set by Ireland’s Bertram Allen on Pacino Amiro.

“It was a little hard to know how fast to go with only five in the jump-off,” Bertram reflected.

“It was a question of getting the line right between going mad and too fast and having a rail, so I tried to have as good of a round as I could without going mad. He’s got a great length of stride, and any time there was an option, I was able to take one less and I suppose that’s what helped me today.”

Daniel Bluman of Israel, who logged the initial fault-free effort on Ladriano Z in the first round had already dropped a rail. So did the Belgian rider, Nicola Philippaerts, aboard Katanga vin Dingeshof.

So when Bliss came into the ring, the heat was on to try and beat Bertram’s time of 44.14 seconds, while keeping the rails in place and also worrying about the final rider in the tie-breaker, another Irish speedster, Paul O’Shea on the imposing chestnut Chancelloress, a daughter of the great sire, Chacco Blue.

“It was a fine line between going too much and not enough,” Bliss explained.

“Knowing that my horse is naturally very, very fast, I could have taken a bit more risk than I did and trusted his footspeed a bit more,” she mused.

“I think I definitely lost some time just by being more cautious, but then again, you can take a risk and knock one down. I did my plan and I’m very happy with the results.” (Click here for results of class.)

Her clocking of 45.17 seconds in a fault-free performance would be good enough for third, ahead of Daniel and Nicola, as Paul gave it a go with his mare but still fell a bit short in 44.49 seconds to take runner-up honors.

The riders agreed the course, put together by designers Anthony D’Ambrosio and Andy Christiansen, was quite a challenge.

“I think it was a proper 5-star grand prix course; there wasn’t one bogey fence and all three combinations were tough. The whole way around the course you had no real let-up, so it was a well-built course,” said Bertram.

Seven riders retired and two big names–former World Cup champions Rodrigo Pessoa of Brazil (also and Olympic and WEG champion) and Mario Deslauriers of Canada–fell off but were unhurt.

Bertram, who collected $133,980 for his victory, won the same class last year when his mount, aptly nicknamed Buddy, had been in only one 5-star previously. Buddy, a son of Pacino, is even more of a threat now with mileage, having also competed in the Olympics last summer.

Paul commented, “When I walked the course, I thought it was tough, but the standard is so high here because there are so many top riders and horses.”

Here’s another way to judge how tough it was. Those who did not make the jump-off included half of the silver medal U.S. Olympic team with their Games horses, McLain Ward (Contagious) and Laura Kraut (Baloutinue); individual Olympic gold medalist Ben Maher of Britain with Ginger Blue (who was not his medal mount) and Germany’s impressive Daniel Deusser (Scuderia 1918 Tobago Z).

Continuing to discuss the course, Paul said, “Eveything I walked made me think it was difficult and it had a lot of options, so you had to make a plan. It was an advantage for me to go later (he was fourth from last in the first round) because I could see a lot go and make a good plan. The first few riders really had it tough because the time was so tight; they extended the time (allowed), so that was good, but for the first three or four, it was very difficult.”

Paul has to handle his mare delicately.

“She’s very sensitive and very nervous of other horses,” he explained.(To find out how a dressage rider handled her mare who has the same issues, click here.)

“She’s afraid of everything, but when she goes in the ring she’s like a lion; in the warm up, I don’t know how many times she stopped on me because she was nervous or saw a horse. She’s very unusual in that she’s very timid outside the ring, even in the stable, but when she goes in the ring, she’s very brave and tough, which is a great quality.”

Bliss got her mount through Stevie Macken, a family friend who is the son of the great Irish rider/trainer Eddie Macken. He had sent a video of the stallion to her father. At the time, Bliss was injured, having broken her back and dislocated a hip in a shattering fall.”

Her father suggested she needed a nice horse. Bliss was a bit reluctant, because  “I’d always loved young horses and I didn’t want to find something (already) going and doing it.”

She had only been on a horse twice since her accident, but she went to France to see the 8-year-old anyway.

“I tried this stallion and he looked like a pony and I fell in love,” she reported about the horse previously competed by Pierre Cimolai. The Lugano class was her best finish with the Selle Francais, now 12, since she was third in a Mexican 5-star last October. Her horse is by Diamant de Semilly, a brilliant sire who died this month.

Bliss, 34, who was long-listed for the Tokyo Olympics with her stallion, is from California but is seeking a base in Wellington and is looking at farms while she is here for the WEF.

She would love to do the Paris Olympics (how cool to bring her boy “home” again for that) but isn’t really pointing toward this summer’s world championships in Denmark, noting they are quite rigorous, as opposed to the Olympic format that she feels “is a bit nicer on the horses. I’ve got to pick my battles. I’d like to take a little bit of an easy year and enjoy my horse and take all the pressure off him.”