Observer
Robert Whitaker attended his first press conference in La Baule yesterday before he had jumped a single fence at this French seaside resort. Such is the interest in the talented 18-year-old rider, who will be competing on his first Nations Cup team here on Tuesday - as part of a quartet that will also include his father, John - that words were requested at a press conference before any deeds were performed on yesterday's opening day of the show.Were John and Robert planning to follow the great Brazilian father-and-son act of Nelson and Rodrigo Pessoa? Since 28-year-old Rodrigo has won a world title and three World Cup finals since he first appeared on a team with his father, they would both obviously be happy with such an outcome - but the two Yorkshiremen are much too sensible to make any such claims. 'The only trouble is Robert might start taking the best horses, like Rodrigo did,' John said, continuing the badinage that he enjoys with his son. 'It's a pity when he lets his father do all the hard work and then steps in.'
In addition to being the first time that a father and son have appeared together on a British team, the La Baule meeting represents the first Nations Cup show for John Whitaker since the drama of his cerebral haemorrhage (and subsequent brain surgery) in Sweden last December. 'I may not be 100 per cent fit, but I'm not sure I ever was 100 per cent,' John said with a grin in answer to one question yesterday.
Having had a fall with Virtual Village Calvaro at another French show in Maubeuge last Tuesday (where he would have won but for coming to grief at the last jump-off fence), John Whitaker was content to let the stallion jump a quiet clear round in the speed class for the Prix Presse Ocean yesterday in preparation for today's Grand Prix and Tuesday's Nations Cup.
Robert was also intent on having a quiet school in the later Prix Echo de la Presqu'ile with Lord Liberty, who will be his mount for both these major contests. 'He's always spooky on the first day of a show,' he said, after the nine-year-old had two fences down.
By accepting the invitation to compete here, Robert has forfeited his chance of trying for a hat-trick of team gold medals in the Junior European Championships for which he will no longer be eligible. His mother, Clare, who put his name down for La Baule, had initially wanted him to stay in the junior ranks. 'I didn't want him to run before he could walk,' she said. Now, however, she obviously believes that her son is steady on his feet, for she left him to make the choice.
'If you get the opportunity to jump on a Nations Cup team, you've got to take it,' Robert said. With a grin that suggested he was not to be taken too seriously, he added: 'I might never get the chance again.'
There are no signs of nerves so far from Robert, whose confidence was boosted last Tuesday when he was sixth and best of the British in the Maubeuge Grand Prix on Lord Liberty. 'I know the horse is capable of jumping a Nations Cup course,' he said of the nine-year-old. John Whitaker, who has been Britain's leading rider for more than a decade, said that his son and Lord Liberty suit each other ('they're both a little bit wild') although the horse is not an easy ride. 'Robert has a feeling for horses, he can get on and find the right key,' he said.
John will be competing in his 121st Nations Cup in two days' time; Robert will be riding in his first. A television crew will be coming here from Paris especially to cover the father-and-son participation. 'It will be a great thing to be riding with my Dad,' Robert said. 'One day I hope I'll be able to ride with my sister, Louise, and my Uncle Michael as well.'
If that day comes, the media will undoubtedly be out in force.