Lancaster ticks all the right boxes

William Whitaker could now be world championships-bound with his sevenyear-old victory and a six-year-old wins the same championship as his dam

- SARAH RADFORD

WILLIAM WHITAKER and Lancaster jumped a masterful clear around a challenging jump-off track in the Al Shira’aa seven-year-old final to finish in excess of four seconds ahead of the rest of the field.

Of the 12 horses forward, six faulted at the third fence – a solid-coloured vertical with a water tray, jumped off a corner – and only three jumped double clears, with William leading the pack from second to go.

“Lancaster was super-focused in that jump-off. I kept in my rhythm and tried to keep it going as quickly as I could but make it as easy as I could, as he doesn’t have masses of experience against the clock,” said William of Neil Fiddles’ Tangelo gelding.

“The third fence was difficult, especially for younger horses. If they did the seven strides one to two, which was quite forward, they then had to spin back away from home, and the horses had one eye slightly on the entrance. It was also quite a gappy fence and block colours are always tricky.

“They’ve been big courses this week, but they’ve been well built and fair and you could ride a positive rhythm, so credit to the course-builders,” he said.

William will now sit down with the horse’s owner to see if they have Lanaken in mind, although the horse has ticked many boxes for this season.

“I have two for Neil and if they do go for a break now, they’ll have finished on a good note,” William said. “They’ve done grass and sand arenas and Lancaster jumped well at Hickstead and Hamburg, so he’s where I’d like him to be experience-wise.”