Whitaker out to make giant leap on Portofino
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Michael Whitaker needs to advance from 14th to fourth place in today's two show jumping rounds if he is to qualify for one of four places in tomorrow's horse-swapping final, which will be the closing contest of the World Equestrian Games. It sounds like a tall order, but Whitaker has not given up hope.
The only Briton, among the top 25 who go forward, will need to jump two clear rounds on the mare Insultech Portofino. He will then have to hope the 10 riders above him make errors.
"She's very reliable and I've no worries for the next couple of days, she'll last the pace," he said yesterday of Portofino, who has already jumped three rounds for the team that finished ninth late on Thursday night when the Netherlands won from the United States and Germany.
Having produced their best championship performance for years, British riders were frustrated. They would have been sixth had John Whitaker's inexperienced mount Peppermill not over-reacted when he was checked going into the treble and come back to a trot, with the inevitable result that he had the first element down.
"Normally our form would have been good enough to get us into the top three," Michael Whitaker said. But the standard of jumping has been phenomenal, especially from the four leaders of the individual: Beezie Madden of the United States, Gerco Schröder of the Netherlands, Germany's Ludger Beerbaum and the Dutch 2000 Olympic champion Jeroen Dubbeldam.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments