James Whitaker secures victory in the British Horse Feeds Speedi-Beet Grade C Championship with Just Call Me Henry at Horse of the Year Show
On the final day of Horse of the Year Show, James Whitaker stepped into the limelight to command victory in the British Horse Feeds Speedi-Beet Grade C Championship with Just Call Me Henry.
“I was lucky as he had a spin round [this arena] in the Foxhunter Final on Thursday to finish fifth, but he was unlucky [with the fastest four faults in the first round],” said James. “He’s a bit of an over-achiever and won a four-star class at Hickstead in the summer.”
A field of 22 came forward over the 1.40m course and, with several hard luck four fault stories amongst them, only five returned clear rounds to go forward into the jump-off. James proved economical all the way to take a handsome 1.81 second win on the British-bred 8-year-old by his uncle John Whitaker’s former top ride Argento, out of a Kannan mare and bred by Murray McLeish and Steve Fag.
“He’s naturally fast, if you looked at the time of my first round, he’ll be one of the quickest, so I knew if I kept the jumps up, he wouldn’t be far away,” said James. “I don’t want to jinx anything, but he finds it all effortless and wins at almost every show he goes to. I need to keep him and hope someone doesn’t come along and wants to buy him.”
Aintree Winter Classic this coming week is now on the schedule.
“This Grade C Final was my plan, now I’ve got to make a new one!”
News Kindly provided by British Showjumping
Images courtesy of 1st Class Images
