September 2015
With thanks to
Whitaker Misses by a Whisker
For the first time in the history of the British leg of the Longines Global Champions Tour, a British
rider was denied a win, and only by an agonising margin of 0.08 seconds. Instead, the most consistent
horse on this year’s tour - having been in the top 10 in every leg of the competition - Casall Ask was
finally rewarded for his sterling performances by securing the top spot under Rolf Goran Bengtsson.
With an early draw as fifth to go in a 12 strong jump off, Rolf was under pressure to set the first fast
triple clear of the day, and the 53 year old Swedish rider managed just that with a smooth and speedy
round, “you have to give everything or someone will beat you before long” he said, and with the best
of the best on his tail, he wasn’t wrong.
Flawless performances also followed by the Dutch and the French in the form of Gerco Schröder and
Simon Delestre who eventually took fourth and third spots respectively on board their rides Glock’s
Cognac Champblanc and Qlassic Bois Margot. The last two spots in the final third round were saved
for two of Britain’s own, John Whitaker and Scott Brash, who were keen to give the particularly partisan crowd something to cheer about.
John put in an absolutely blazing round on his and his wife Clare’s 13 year old stallion, the flamboyant
and on-form Argento. Losing time by ballooning over the third fence, a formidable oxer, arguably cost
them the win but John made up ground coming round to the last line, encouraged by the cheers of
the crowd urging him to a British victory. But the clock stopped less than a tenth of a second slower to
leave John sitting in second. “I think I went the wrong way through the finish, if I’d have turned right
I might have saved a few hundredths,” Whitaker said, who must be getting sick of standing on the second place podium this season having missed out on the top spot behind Brash at Monaco just weeks
before, “I just couldn’t catch Rolf, he was too quick, but I wasn’t far off.”
Scot riding the multi meddled true legend of the sport, Hello Sanctos was last to go and had looked
unbeatable until the last when he rolled a rare pole in the final combination to fall into sixth place.
However the Scotsman’s performance managed to regain him his place at the top of the GCT table,
knocking Portugal’s Luciana Diniz from the top and giving him a great shot at securing a record
breaking third GCT Championship title.
As Scott had previously declared that Hello Sanctos was not available for British team selection at
the Europeans in Aachen this year, I was keen to find out if his team mate John was intending to aim
Argento at the championships given their considerable form this season, and was met with some
disappointing news that spread like wildfire amongst the equestrian community the very next day. In
fact all riders in the top three were joining Scott in sitting out the Europeans and saving their horses
for the GCT.
With John’s reasons as understandable as they are, “Argento is a fantastic horse but he loves these small
arenas, he’s not as comfortable in the big grass arenas. He always tries his best and I don’t want to
break his heart asking him to do something he’s not comfortable with”, one can’t help but wonder if the
tables are turning on priorities and whether there is an element of riders saving their horses for money winning opportunities over and above representing their countries if they aren’t certain of a medal
contention? Or is it that horses are becoming so precious and valuable that the current Championship
Image Courtesy Waverley Stud
September 2015 • Issue 24 • Everything Horse Magazine
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