Great Yorkshire Show: Evergreen Whitaker eyes '˜record' seventh win

Five more successes spanning four decades have followed.

Yet the Great Yorkshire ‘talisman’ shows absolutely no signs of stopping as he eyes a record-equaling seventh success at 61 years of age.

Whitaker is now a six-time Olympian but was just 19 when riding Ryan’s Son to victory in the Great Yorkshire Show’s Cock O’ The North Championship of 1975.

The show jumper then had to wait 16 years for his second Cock O’ The North on Henderson Milton in 1991 but four more followed – on Gammon (1996), Steps Helsinki (2002), Peppermill (2011) and Maximillian (2013).

Even so, Robert Smith – son of show jumping legend Harvey – remains one in front of Whitaker having won the event an amazing seven times. Smith, 56, has five years in hand on his rival but even in his early 60s Whitaker is hoping there is yet more joy in the Harrogate showpiece to come.

Taking ten minutes out of his busy schedule before flying out to compete in Belgium this week, world no 53 Whitaker told The Yorkshire Post: “Especially as a Yorkshireman, the Great Yorkshire Show is an event that we always look forward to.

“There’s a great crowd with the Cock O’ The North, it’s a great ring to jump in with good ground and good fences and it’s where it all started a bit for me after coming to prominence there in the 70s.

“I remember it – the first day I jumped at the Great Yorkshire – and it’s a bit daunting for a young horse and a young rider.

“It’s a massive ring with big jumps, there’s lots of fillers in the jumps and it’s quite a test for a young horse.

“The first day went completely wrong and I was a bit disillusioned because you are jumping in front of your own crowd and people you know and your friends and your family. You think ‘it all went wrong’ and I was a bit fed up. But my father said ‘everybody makes mistakes and you have got to keep going to get better’ and it kind of put some confidence in me. Two days later I ended up winning the Cock O’ The North and I think I might have won on the second day actually as well after my father’s pep talk.

“He tried to put some confidence in me and told me to get stuck in and I’d be all right.

“It did turn out all right! It was a good win for me because for the next six months, every show I went to you are going into it having won the Cock O’ The North at the Great Yorkshire. You can say you have done that and it gives you a bit of pride. It was definitely a turning point in my career.”

David Broome initially held the record for the most victories in Cock O’ The Norths before Harvey Smith and then Graham Fletcher started clocking up the wins but Robert Smith is now top of the tree with seven.

The 56-year-old won the event for the first time on Sanyo Video in 1978 and has since followed up on Brook Street Run (1988), Brook Street Boysie (1989), Silver Dust (1994), Gold (1995), Senator Mighty Blue (1997) and Senator Tees Hanauer (2000).

“It would be nice to get in front of him,” laughed Whitaker, who will compete either Talisman De Mazure or Crumbley in the big event. Assessing his chances of a record-equalling seventh victory, Whitaker mused: “I’ve got quite a new horse in Talisman and it’s probably a little bit inexperienced but having said that Ryan’s Son was inexperienced when I won it on him.

“I’m going there to try and win it and if I have a bit of luck on the day then I have a chance.

“Crumbley has also been going very well and both of them have been doing the international circuit.

“They are both young horses and I’ll probably jump them both on the first day and I might just see which one is jumping the best and then decide which one to jump in the Cock O’ The North.

“At this point I would think Talisman but I might change.”

Whitaker will also be joined in battle by son Robert plus nephews James and Joe and he says even riders who gain a clear round can feel very proud. “It’s a challenge to win the Cock O’ The North,” admitted Whitaker.

“It’s a tough course with the double walls which you don’t get anywhere else throughout the world. It’s the only place in the world where you actually jump the big double walls.

“It’s a challenging course and I think even to get a clear round at the Cock O’ The North you feel like you have achieved something.

“To win it, you feel like you have just done the best thing ever.

“It’s a good feeling to win the Cock O’ The North, especially in front of your home crowd as there’s always a massive crowd on the Thursday. It’s still as good to win it now as the first time.”

*A HOST of riders will represent Yorkshire in the show jumping competitions at the Great Yorkshire Show.

The flagship Cock O’The North is held on Thursday and John Whitaker, Robert Whitaker, James Whitaker, Joe Whitaker, Millie Allen, Pippa Allen, Alison Barton, Jamie Gornall and Richard Howley are all set to represent the host county.

Robert Smith, Paul Barker, Donald Whitaker, Kate Whitaker, Louise Whitaker, Scarlett Ward and Morgan Kent plus youngsters Paige Wright and Rachel Proudley are among the Yorkshire riders to have horses entered for the rest of the week.