Philip Correia got more than he bargained for after becoming the first Bermudian to medal in the final of the FEI World Jumping Challenge in Morocco yesterday.

Making his first appearance at this event in more than a decade, the local rider finished second with 17-year-old Kilt Bessiere to claim silver after posting clear rounds on all four days of the competition.

It was by far the biggest achievement of Correia’s career and far exceeded his expectations going into the event featuring some of the world’s elite.

“It’s really hard to put into words [being the first Bermuda rider to medal at the event] but it feels quite nice,” Correia said.

“To make it to the final was my first goal, and after making it to the final I knew that I stood a good chance of being in the top five, and obviously coming second is a plus.

“Most of the competitors that I was competing against are competing at much higher levels than this. They are all competing at Grand Prix level and so to actually ride among other riders that are generally doing a lot more on the horse scene, and do so well, was actually a very big thing for me.

“It was a good accomplishment and it’s nice to see my ability is at a good level.

“This country [Morocco] is really nice and has a lot of really challenging riders and race horses, and their facilities are out of this world.”

The 31-year-old rider missed out on gold by a narrow margin in a final jump off with Marek Maitalo of Lebanon.

“It was good to win the silver medal, but I wish I didn’t come second by a fifth of a second,” Correia said. “The guy who beat me was a really good rider, but I went down fighting for sure.”

Correia, the former Bermuda Horse and Driving and Pony Club president, found himself at a disadvantage after drawing the older horse of the two for the final jump off with Maitalo.

“We had to draw for horses and he got the favourite horse,” he said. “The horse I had was a good horse but he wasn’t the favourite.

“He was the oldest horse so I had to really think ahead of time and take that into consideration.

“As an older horse I had to conserve his energy so that he can perform his best, so I really didn’t get a lot of time to practise on him. I kind of sacrificed practice to keep the horse in good shape.”

Meanwhile, rounding off the podium finishers was Yassine Bennani, of Morocco, who took the bronze medal.

Presenting the awards was Ingmar De Vos, the FEI president.

The 2016 FEI World Jumping Finals involved riders from some 20 countries.

Participants represent the top two placing “Category A” riders from each of the different FEI Country Zones.

The formula for the event consisted of the warm up competition as well as a first and second qualifying competition with the best 50 per cent of the field qualifying for the final.