John Whitaker stepped onto the Longines Global Champions Tour podium for the first time, coming second in the Grand Prix in Lausanne.
‘Close to perfect’
John narrowly missed on taking the top spot, after jumping three superb clears with his talented stallion Argento. However, he couldn’t quite match the speed of four-time Olympic Gold medallist Ludger Beerbaum, who pipped him to the post by just 0.81secs.
Out of 46 starters, 19 made it though the second round, which was then whittled down to five riders for the jump-off.
Gerco Schroder was first to go and set a time of 40sec with Cognac Champblanc. Ludger and Chaman were next in, with the pair achieving what he described as a “close to perfect round” to cross the finishing line in a time of 37.50secs.
Next in was John, who gave it his best shot, but the pair stopped the clock just behind the German leaders on 38.31sec.
‘A bit big’
“I am very pleased to be second,” said John. “I would have liked to have won, but Ludger was too fast. My horse is fast, but I took too many strides.
“Argento has not got the scope and power of a lot of the other horses, but he tries and he is developing more. When I walked the course I thought, ‘this is a bit big for me’ but he jumped it really well.”
Argentina’s José Maria Larocca was fourth with a time of 39.16secs, which left Dutch rider Gerco in fifth place.
Scott retires
One of the big surprises of the evening, was when hot favourite Scott Brash, who has won three rounds this season, retired with Hello Annie after collecting eight faults early on in his first round.
This latest result in the GCT series leaves Ludger in the lead on 236 points. Sweden occupies the next two spots with Rolf-Goran Bengtsson in second place on 221 poins and Henrik von Eckermann third on 201. Last year’s winner Scott Brash is currently seventh on 187 points.
The next stage is in Vienna (18-21 September) followed by the final out in Doha (13-15 November).