The brilliant young Dutch rider Maikel Van der Vleuten produced a magical display of precision riding to overhaul British brothers Michael and John Whitaker in the Shelley Ashman International Ltd, EM Rogers (Transport) Ltd Christmas Tree Stakes at Olympia, The London International Horse Show. Bob Ellis’s track rode more easily than anticipated and a whopping 17 combinations went through to the jump-off. However, the shortened course quickly sorted the field and only five jumped clear as riders buckled under the pressure. Michael Whitaker showed all his experience to produce a superb round on Valentin R for 36.86 seconds, while John was just 0.6 seconds slower on Lord of Arabia. The brothers topped the leaderboard until, a few horses later, Maikel, riding the nine-year-old bay mare VDL Groep Arera C, cheekily shaved off a further 0.72 seconds off the senior British rider’s time. “I’m not just a bit gutted, I’m totally gutted!” said Michael afterwards. “I think the course rode more easily because it was about 0.5m smaller than last night’s, so felt a bit easier, and, of course, the sport is so much more competitive nowadays.” Maikel, who is becoming a popular fixture at Olympia, is now second in the H & M Leading Rider of the Show table. He commented: “I didn’t think the course was that easy when I walked it, but we certainly ended up with a lot of clears. But then when you get that many riders in a jump off they take too many risks, which helped me.” Ben Maher also went clear in the jump-off to finish fourth, on Wings Sublieme, and his consistency over three days means that he still holds onto his H & M Leading Rider armband, by a commanding lead of 10.5 points, with two days to go.
The brilliant young Dutch rider Maikel Van der Vleuten produced a magical display of precision riding to overhaul British brothers Michael and John Whitaker in the Shelley Ashman International Ltd, EM Rogers (Transport) Ltd Christmas Tree Stakes at Olympia, The London International Horse Show. Bob Ellis’s track rode more easily than anticipated and a whopping 17 combinations went through to the jump-off. However, the shortened course quickly sorted the field and only five jumped clear as riders buckled under the pressure. Michael Whitaker showed all his experience to produce a superb round on Valentin R for 36.86 seconds, while John was just 0.6 seconds slower on Lord of Arabia. The brothers topped the leaderboard until, a few horses later, Maikel, riding the nine-year-old bay mare VDL Groep Arera C, cheekily shaved off a further 0.72 seconds off the senior British rider’s time. “I’m not just a bit gutted, I’m totally gutted!” said Michael afterwards. “I think the course rode more easily because it was about 0.5m smaller than last night’s, so felt a bit easier, and, of course, the sport is so much more competitive nowadays.” Maikel, who is becoming a popular fixture at Olympia, is now second in the H & M Leading Rider of the Show table. He commented: “I didn’t think the course was that easy when I walked it, but we certainly ended up with a lot of clears. But then when you get that many riders in a jump off they take too many risks, which helped me.” Ben Maher also went clear in the jump-off to finish fourth, on Wings Sublieme, and his consistency over three days means that he still holds onto his H & M Leading Rider armband, by a commanding lead of 10.5 points, with two days to go.