Toronto, Ontario – Great Britain’s Michael Whitaker won the $75,000 Ricoh Big Ben International Challenge to close the 2007 Royal Horse Show. The 10-day international equestrian competition was part of The Royal Agricultural Winter Fair, celebrating its 85th anniversary, held from November 2-11 in Toronto, ON.

From the starting field of 24 international show jumping athletes, nine managed to jump clear over the huge track set by course designer Michel Vaillancourt. As only the second rider to return for the jump-off, Whitaker took an unexpected turn to fence number 15, surprising the audience as well as the course designer who had never imagined the route was possible.

“I never even thought about that turn,” said Vaillancourt, who earned rave reviews all week for his creative designs. “That was really crafty! And he did it to the biggest jump on the course set at 1.60m.”

Advertisement