Fantastic win for JOC Member’s Horse in 2nd World Cup leg!

The 2024-2025 season of the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup could not have got off to a better start! Robert Whitaker got the better of his twelve rivals in the jump-off at the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup Grand Prix in Helsinki (FIN) on 27 October. He won with the magnificent stallion Vermento, owned by JOC Vice-Chair Caroline Blatchford. This success enabled the Briton to leap up to 5th place in the overall rankings.

Although this course was challenging, way more athletes made it to the jump-off than last week in Oslo (NOR). Out of the 39 athletes, 13 advanced to the jump-off. To compare: last week, there were four out of 40.

Amanda Landeblad (SWE) and For Killy had the honour of discovering how fast the jump-off could be completed. As the first of the 13 athletes qualified for the jump-off, she started the fight for qualification points. Beforehand, she had given herself a stern pep talk. “I don’t ride fast jump-offs, but I have decided to do so now,” she said with a smile. She kept her word. From the first moment the rhythm was there, and with short turns she completed the course faultlessly in 38.89 seconds. This was enough for seventh place.

When the third athlete in the jump-off, Steve Guerdat, entered the ring the other athletes watched the master at work. He has already won the Longines FEI Jumping World Cup™ Final three times, with three different horses (Albfuehren’s Paille in Las Vegas (USA) 2015; Corbinian in Göteborg (SWE) 2016; Alamo in Göteborg 2019). With great control and overview, he steered Is-Minka faultlessly around. The new time to beat was 37.56, almost one and a half seconds faster than Landeblad. Although he could have been even faster, if he had ridden tighter in the turn from the first to the second obstacle.

Whitaker rode with his stallion Vermento. Because of his size, he wasn’t expected to be the fastest horse, but he proved to be the most agile one. He gained metres throughout the jump-off by turning short, especially in the turn to the FEI vertical. He clocked a time of 36.84 seconds. And made it even harder for the athletes who followed.

Kevin Staut and Dialou Blue PS rode smartly, flew through the double jump and gained time with that. It turned out to be enough for the second place. ‘Number two’ seems to be Staut favourite position lately. And the French athlete is completely fine with it: “We have now finished second three times in a row,” Staut said, referring to Oslo one week ago and Barcelona (ESP) at the beginning of this month. “I prefer to be second three times than taking a risk and winning one time and then maybe having to miss the next competition.”

The next leg takes place on 3 November in Lyon (FRA), followed by Verona (ITA) and Stuttgart (GER). Whether Whitaker will be in Lyon next Sunday isn’t sure. “I will discuss my schedule with the Chef d’Equipe. Personally, I prefer Madrid (ESP) and A Coruña (ESP) in December. It seems good to me to jump two shows in a row.”

What’s already certain is that the British athlete is more than happy for now. “Vermento was amazing. He looked ahead to every fence. I think our round yesterday helped him. Then we had a fence down. He is a horse that doesn’t want to make mistakes, so I think that made him extra sharp today. He gave me the chance to guide him to victory”.