It was looking like being a Whitaker one-two in Saturday night’s Christmas Tree Stakes at Olympia, only for Dutch rider Maikel van der Vleuten to pip the famous pair to the post.
Huge class
A total of 31 starters came forward to jump in the first round, with the clears coming thick and fast. Seventeen qualified for the jump-off, with only Constant van Paesschen electing not to jump a second time.
But the second round immediately took a few scalps, and clear rounds looked pretty hard to come by. Robert Whitaker and USA Today started proceedings with a fast four-fault round, but it wasn’t until his uncle Michael came in on Valentin R that the crowd were treated to their first clear.
Michael showed off every inch of his mastery when steering the grey stallion round the course with breathtakingly sharp turns and bursts of speed between fences.
Oh brother
He was followed by his brother John Whitaker and Lord of Arabia, and while he was able to repeat the clear round he was 0.6sec slower.
Reed Kessler produced another clear to go third, until Ben Maher and Wings Sublieme dropped them down a placing.
But then Dutch rider Maikel van der Vleuten, who won last year’s FEI World Cup leg at Olympia, came in and shaved 0.72sec off Michael’s time to take the title.
Time to Exell
The feature class of the evening was the FEI World Cup driving leg, which was won byBoyd Exell.
It’s been a fantastic season for the Australian driver, who is based in Britain – having now won four consecutive World Cup legs this season at London.
Boyd gave credit to his indoor team of horses, who helped him to victory. “I didn’t give them their best ride, but they got me out of trouble,” he said. “The second round I gave them a good ride and they operated.”
Early wins
Earlier on Saturday,The Dodson & Horrell and The World Class Programme Under 23 British Championships was won by Kerry Brennan and Wellington M. Afie Bradstock came second on the former eventer Caicos.