JESS MENDOZA enjoyed a couple of top finishes at the 3* Drachten Grand Prix show jumping event in the Netherlands over the weekend.

Jess, 17 from Tockenham in Wiltshire, took third place in the 1.40m CNN Drachten Prijs on the Friday with Classic Highfly, a 10-year-old bay mare owned by her mother, Sarah.

Jess, a student at St Mary’s in Calne, also secured a fourth place in the 1.45m speed class later the same day, this time with the 13-year-old bay gelding Ramiro de Belle Vue.

Riding her top horse, the 12-year-old brown mare Spirit T, she just missed out on getting into the 12-strong jump-off for the 1.55m Grand Prix.

Jess and Spirit jumped very well but picked up four faults in the competition won by fellow Brit, 24-year-old Sam Hutton.

Jess burst into the top 20 British rider rankings for the first time last year on the strength of some top quality displays and finished third in the Dodson & Horrell and World Class Programme U23 Championships at Olympia’s International Horse Show.