Ameen is tied at top

GHANTOOT // Looking tiny on board his towering grey, Caleeto, the youngest competitor, Abdul Rahman Ahmed Ameen, 11, scored the first double clear at the Emirates Showjumping Championship yesterday. The rider from Ajman Equestrian Club goes into the final of the Category D event today tied for first place with Emirates Heritage Club's Mohammed Hasan al Musawi and Hurgo De Fontenel, who were last to go and also had a faultless round.

Riders in categories A to D are competing for a purse worth Dh235,000, with category A riders counting Olympian Sheikha Latifa Al Maktoum among their ranks and category D made up of novice and younger competitors like Ameen. This is the first time a dressage championship and Arabian showing show has been held alongside the national jumping competition, a development that Alison Abraham, consultant to Emirates Equestrian Federation called significant.

"This is extremely important to the continued development of equestrianism in the UAE," said Abrahams, the first woman to win an endurance race in the country. "Flatwork improves the performance of a horse at every other discipline from showjumping and showing to racing and is an integral element of three-day-eventing." In the Arabian showing under saddle class, which concluded on Thursday evening, Ibrahim Almirech and Mags Camilleon took first.

Sheikha Latifa and Quidam's Pride went into yesterday's jumping competition tied for the category A lead with Mohammed Ghanim al Hajri on Shakira 94 and the pair are expected to challenge for first prize today. @Email:[e-mail]