Big win for Whitaker
British showjumper Michael Whitaker produced a dominant display in Germany to win the prestigious Aachen GP.
Last Updated: 08/07/12 5:37pm
British showjumper Michael Whitaker produced a dominant display in Germany to win the prestigious Aachen Grand Prix.
52-year-old Whitaker missed out on a place in Britain's four-strong team for the London Olympics despite a long career highlighted by him clinching 14 major championship medals.
The Nottinghamshire-based rider also helped secure Britain's last Olympic showjumping medal - a team silver at Los Angeles in 1984 - and he cruised to victory in a three-horse jump off on GIG Amai.
They clocked 49.73 seconds to claim an emphatic victory and collect a bumper winner's purse of just over £87,000.
German Thomas Voss, riding Carinjo 9, had to settle for second on 54.37, while his German compatriot Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum was third on Bella Donna.
Amai has had its share of injury troubles, which probably counted against it when British team chief Rob Hoekstra finalised his London quartet of Nick Skelton, Ben Maher, Scott Brash and Peter Charles.
But Whitaker has never doubted Amai's ability. The horse is a previous Olympia World Cup winner and today's triumph came among a world-class field of 39 combinations.
Hoekstra watched from the sidelines as Whitaker prevailed and it was a performance that sealed an impressive few days for British showjumpers at Aachen's World Equestrian Festival.
Skelton, eighth in the grand prix with Carlo, Brash and Guy Williams all won classes during the show, which is rated as arguably the highest profile on equestrian's global calendar.
