YOUNG Jamaican equestrian Danielle Gore, competing in the 12 and under category, made history for Jamaica at the Club Campestre, Guaymaral Gran Derby 2014 FEI annual Children’s Invitational Show Jumping Competition in Bogota, Colombia, at the weekend.

Gore became the first Jamaican rider to win in a South American competition, while her teammate Hannah Deleon, competing in the 14 and under category, finished third.

Gore and Brazil’s Felipe DeLoenzo (16 & under) were the only foreigners who managed to outride and conquer the Colombians on their own horses to walk away with the top Championship positions for their countries.

Coach Susan Wates, who accompanied the girls to Colombia, lauded them for their guts, and gritty performances which enabled them to emerge with much pride for Jamaica, with Gore toping the 22 riders from six countries and two continents, while riding two strange and different horses.

Competing countries were hosts Colombia, Jamaica, Ecuador, Brazil, USA, Bolivia, Mexico, Panama, Peru, and Germany.

Hannah Deleon in the 14 & under category, jumping heights of 1.10 metres over three days of stiff competition against 31 rivals, held up very well.

Gore jumped heights of 1.00-metre over three days of gruelling competition against 22 competitors.

As was expected, the children competing for Colombia placed their horses in a pool from which the visiting riders would draw their horses for the three days of competition.

The first two competitions are qualifiers for the final. The final is then divided into two sections — A and B — with the top half reserved for those competitors who finish their routines with the least faults and fastest times. The B section or bottom half of the draw will be filled by the remaining riders of the qualifiers for the final.

Wates, in explaining how the competition was conducted, noted that children from the host country competed against the foreign riders on the same horses. A rider can only qualify once on one declared horse from the start of the competition. The foreign riders are allowed to ride and practise with their horses once.

Deleon rode Natasha, owned and ridden by Elissa Gallego, after a gruelling two days. Natasha made it to the final B section with both riders, Colombian and Jamaican. Five riders in the final had zero faults and then had to do an exciting ‘jump-off’ against the clock. Elissa Gallego and Natasha topped the competition with the fastest time and Deleon, who rode the horse after Gallego was done, came in a close fourth with second- and third-place finishes going to the Colombians.

Gore rode Africa, which is owned and ridden by Valeria Fonseca. Gore won all her qualifiers and got to the final top half, while Fonseca accumulated four faults over the two qualifiers and made it to the bottom half in the final.

Gore kept her cool and rode smart and fast to complete her first round with zero faults and then rode against six other riders with zero faults in the ‘jump-off’ against the clock.

“Danielle,” Wates emphasised, “rode this like a professional, following my instructions to a T, and she came in with the fastest time and zero faults, yet again.”

Faults are accumulated for knocking a pole, stopping at a jump or missing the jump, taking the wrong path/course of jumps, and going over the time given to complete the course of jumps.

And a ‘jump-off’ is the second speed round over a different course, usually shorter and with more technical difficulties, after the competitor had completed the first course in the correct time allowed and received zero faults.