Story by Noor Farhan/Red Sports. Photos by Tan Jon Han/Red Sports

Youth Olympic Equestrian Round 2

Singapore rider Caroline Chew in action during her second round in the individual jumping event. The second-year student of Hwa Chong Institution finished the competition in 17th. (Photo 1 © Tan Jon Han/Red Sports)

Singapore Turf Club Riding Centre, Tuesday, August 24, 2010 – Caroline Chew, together with her gelding thoroughbred, Gatineau, finished a respectable joint-17th after knocking down only two poles of Obstacle 4. Clearing the rest of the 11 obstacles without mistakes, she finished the near-perfect round with a time of 75.12 seconds, scoring four jump penalties and 12 penalties in total.

The round saw Colombia’s Mario Gamboa and Marcelo Chirico of Uruguay qualifying in the Jump-Off for the Gold and Silver places, and Wojciech Dahlke (Poland), Samantha McIntosh (South Africa), Thomas McDermott (Australia), Dalma Rushdi Malhas (Saudi Arabia), Abdurrahman Al Marri (Qatar) and Mohamad Alanzarouti of Syria in the Jump Off for Bronze.

The Singaporean rider overcame the first three obstacles without a hitch, until she came to Obstacle 4, which gave most riders a problem throughout the round.

The first pole came off Gatineau’s front hooves after the initial leap while the steed’s rear hooves just caught the top of the second pole, giving her the four jump penalty points.

After clearing the rest of the obstacles flawlessly amidst the rapturous applause of the home fans, Caroline Chew finished joint 17th, together with Hong Kong’s Jasmine Lai on Butterfly Kisses and Eirin Brunheim of United States on Lenny Hays.

“It was an improvement over the first round, and I’m happy with how today went,” said the cheerful second-year student of Hwa Chong Institution.

Youth Olympic Equestrian Round 2

Caroline rides her horse Gatineau into the competition ground. (Photo 2 © Tan Jon Han/Red Sports)

Youth Olympic Equestrian Round 2

The teenager rides over the Arab Street obstacle as she commenced her run. (Photo 3 © Tan Jon Han/Red Sports)

Youth Olympic Equestrian Round 2

Caroline guides Gatineau cleanly over the China obstacle. She pulled out a better run this time round, failing only at the Flyers obstacle to incur four jump penalty points. (Photo 4 © Tan Jon Han/Red Sports)

Youth Olympic Equestrian Round 2

Dalma Rushdi H Malhas of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, riding on Flash Top Hat, leaps over an obstacle during the jump-off for the bronze medal. The rider emerged victorious with a 38.05 second run with no penalties. (Photo 5 © Tan Jon Han/Red Sports)

Youth Olympic Equestrian Round 2

Marcelo Chirico of Uruguay with Links Hot Gossip makes a clean jump over the Olympic Rings obstacle. The Uruguayan finished his jump-off cleanly with a timing of 42.35 seconds to put the pressure on Mario Gamboa of Columbia. (Photo 6 © Tan Jon Han/Red Sports)

Youth Olympic Equestrian Round 2

Mario watches as LH Titan clips the side of the China obstacle, bringing the whole obstacle down. The rider lost his concentration and over-ran the next jump, finishing his run with a timing of 60.63 seconds and 14 penalty points to hand the medal to Marcelo. (Photo 7 © Tan Jon Han/Red Sports)