Britain's Robert Whitaker charmed the crowd with a home win on Sunday in the King George V Gold Cup. "It’s just amazing, my dad bred the horse, and we’ve put a lot of work in him." Whitaker says after his Grand Prix win.
“It’s just amazing, my dad bred the horse, and we’ve put a lot of work in him. I’ve probably nurtured him the last couple of years, saving him and jumping 1.50m classes. I’ve never jumped a five-star with him before – that was his first,” said Robert, who hails from Yorkshire but now is based in Surrey.
“I just think today he was feeling very good in himself, he jumped amazing in the first round and in the jump off he still had a lot of energy left, and I think that showed today. When I was going in the first round I was really nervous, because you never know what can happen in this ring. But actually, this is a local show for me, so I jump here a lot, and he’s jumped a lot in smaller classes in the ring, so he knows the ring quite well – I think that worked well in my favour today,” he added.
With so many of his rivals picking up faults in the jump-off, Robert wanted to keep up the pace while avoiding making any mistakes. “I wanted to get in a good rhythm and not be too slow; to get a good time but not to overcook it. The way he was jumping, he jumped so safe everywhere. I ended up quite a lot quicker than people with one down.”
“It’s just amazing, my dad bred the horse, and we’ve put a lot of work in him. I’ve probably nurtured him the last couple of years, saving him and jumping 1.50m classes. I’ve never jumped a five-star with him before – that was his first,” said Robert, who hails from Yorkshire but now is based in Surrey.
“I just think today he was feeling very good in himself, he jumped amazing in the first round and in the jump off he still had a lot of energy left, and I think that showed today. When I was going in the first round I was really nervous, because you never know what can happen in this ring. But actually, this is a local show for me, so I jump here a lot, and he’s jumped a lot in smaller classes in the ring, so he knows the ring quite well – I think that worked well in my favour today,” he added.
With so many of his rivals picking up faults in the jump-off, Robert wanted to keep up the pace while avoiding making any mistakes. “I wanted to get in a good rhythm and not be too slow; to get a good time but not to overcook it. The way he was jumping, he jumped so safe everywhere. I ended up quite a lot quicker than people with one down.”