John Whitaker: I could feel everybody rooting for me *H&H VIP*

Opinion

There’s always a good feeling at Olympia and the crowds take it to the next level. This year’s jumping has been top class and hats off to Laura Renwick; she tries to win, whatever she’s riding, but her puissance ride was fantastic.

We’ve had a different course-builder, Guilherme Jorge, this year, which has made it interesting. His World Cup track was excellent — tough enough, although he probably expected more than four clears — but I always say it’s a very fine line to get it right and it ended up being a great class. Scott Brash did a very good round to put the pressure on Julien Epaillard, but the Frenchman came up with the goods.

I had a good week, winning two classes — Leen OL in the accumulator and Argento’s winning round on Sunday felt so good. The reception the crowd gave me was unbelievable — I could feel everybody rooting for me so when I pulled it off, it was a brilliant feeling.

We British feel a bit outnumbered here and it’s been hard to win. It’s nice to have smaller fields — with 50 in a class it can get too long-winded — but at the same time it’s a shame there aren’t more British riders this year.

We haven’t had the best year as a nation and it’s reflected slightly in the results in London, but let’s think positively and move on as a united Team GBR next year.

Ref Horse & Hound; 21 December 2017