The big guns are out in the opening week of this inaugural festival, with William Whitaker headlining Sunday’s feature class and a young rider gearing up for the Paris Olympics
SHOWJUMPING BOLESWORTH PRESENTED BY AL SHIRA’AA
5–9 June
Bolesworth International Summer Festival week one, presented by Al Shira’aa, Bolesworth Castle, Cheshire
WILLIAM WHITAKER and Chacco’s Lando took full advantage of the slivers of opportunity left for the taking by their rivals, to secure a British victory in Bolesworth’s high-class LeMieux CSI2* grand prix.
Ireland’s Shane Breen “knew the big guns were coming behind me”, so set the standard by taking the brave man’s route with Cato Boy over Rafael Suarez’s jump-off course. But William was braver – as last to go, he had to be – slicing across the oxer at fence five and delivering an all-round masterclass in jump-off riding to power ahead by 0.6sec.
“I was in the best position to know what everybody else did before I went in. Shane set a really good target – I knew that I had to give everything to try to beat him and luckily it paid off,” said William, of Old Lodge Stud’s talented 11-year-old Chacco-Blue son.
“He’s a stallion, so he can be easily distracted, especially at this time of year. A couple of weeks ago at Wellington, he had one down in the jump-off and I just felt there that I didn’t do my job well enough keeping him settled and focused between rounds. So that’s what I was concentrating on with him today.
“He’s a great horse, and I feel now each month I get to know him a bit better and exactly how he needs to be managed, so that he jumps his best,” added William.
The top 25% of starters progressed to the second
