John Whitaker’s showjumping sire Randi has died
John and Clare Whitaker’s £300,000-winning showjumper Randi has died, aged 27.
The 16.2hh grey, whose last outing was the Stallion Showcase GB at Addington Manor in February, was put to sleep yesterday (12 September) after becoming cast in his stable.
“We’re not really sure what happened,” John’s daughter Joanne told H&H. “Somehow he got cast and was just too weak to get up.
“He was an old fellow, but he’d had a good summer and was still being hacked out once a week.”
Foaled in 1984, the son of Ramzes III first came out under John Whitaker in 1995 and was ridden internationally by him, and by son Robert from 1999.
He and Robert were part of the gold-winning junior European team at Hungary in 2000.
He retired in 2003, but still stood at stud and was a popular sire, covering around a dozen mares last season.
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“He still thought he was a spring chicken,” added Joanne, “and put on quite show at Addington at the start of the year, leaping in the air and pulling my father round.”
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A self-confessed newshound, farmer’s daughter and journalist of many years' experience, Charlotte worked on regional papers before joining H&H in 2007. A regular rider, she visited Ireland in 2010 to investigate the fate of Irish horses through the recession, to much acclaim, and reported from the FEI General Assembly in Rio de Janeiro in 2011. She left Horse & Hound in March 2013.