Caldicot 18 year old Sophie Broome has finished second in one of the country's top young show jumping events.

Sophie was one of 20 qualifiers for the World Class Start & Potential British Young Riders Classic for riders aged under 23 and staged at the British Open Show Jumping Championships, Sheffield.

The first round track was a true championship course, a technical test of both horse and rider, with fences set at 1.45m. Sophie rode the grey mare Carantina for Cardiff owner Annette Lewis and kept her cool to produce a fine clear round.

"The first route course was all set on related distances, with fences coming off corners," said Sophie's father Fred Broome, who runs the David Broome Event Centre at Crick.

"It was a very, very complex course which took quite some riding."

Just five of the starters made it into the timed jump-off, where Sophie had the disadvantage of being drawn first.

"That meant she had to set the pace, which is never easy," added Fred. "Sophie did really well to go clear and set a good target."

The next two riders in fell by the wayside as they each had fences down. Fourth in was Hertfordshire based Hannah Paul who, with the advantage of being able to watch her rivals, just shaved a fraction of time with a faster turn to the final fence to win.

To finish second in such a top competition is a major boost to Sophie's career and should gain her a place on the short list for this year's Junior European Championships if all continues to go well.

The teenager has already had a taste of European success, winning team gold and individual bronze with Spottie Dot Com at the Pony European Championships.

She is certainly "breed in the purple" for a top flight show jumping career, as her uncle David Broome is an Olympic medallist and aunt Liz Edgar was considered one of the world's best women riders during her international career.

Her cousin Matthew Broome is also in action at the British Open Championships, where he has been chosen to ride for Wales in a special Home International competition that should see some great action (show runs to April 10).