Whitaker's emotional win lifts British morale

John Whitaker brought a disappointing run of British failures to an emotional end yesterday when he employed his own special brand of brilliance to win the Preis des Handwerks with Virtual Village Hunter's Level. Victory here is always special, but for the hundreds of people who sent the Yorkshireman get-well cards after his cerebral haemorrhage last December it was also a welcome confirmation that the old flair is still intact.

Whitaker has won a few international classes since last year's crisis, but they were low-key compared with this success in the huge arena which annually draws the best riders in the world. Rarely can any competitor have achieved so many warm congratulations from his fellow riders after a winning round.

It has to be admitted that the accumulator competition that Whitaker won was not the greatest event on the programme here, but nobody could have produced a more compelling round. The Yorkshireman sent Hunter's Level off like a dart through the start and maintained a smooth and relentless pace through the finish to overtake a swift round from Switzerland's Willi Melliger on Scutt by 1.84sec.

British morale, at a low ebb after mostly mediocre performances on the first two days of the show, was given a further lift by Tim Stockdale finishing third on Traxdata Glenwood Springs, with Michael Whitaker in sixth place on First Samuel. There were smiles all round ­ notably from the British chef d'equipe Michael Bullman and his predecessor, Ronnie Massarella, who was in the stands shouting for a Whitaker victory.

The serious business, however, gets under way with today's Nations Cup in which Michael Whitaker will go first for the British team (and first in the entire contest) on Prince of Wales. He will be followed by Mark Armstrong on Elise and Tim Stockdale on Traxdata Wiston Bridget, with John Whitaker in his usual crucial role as last man of the team with Calvaro.

The elder Whitaker brother is not allowing negative thoughts of Calvaro's 30 faults in the Nations Cup in Modena this month to cloud his mind.

"He's proved he can make a mess of things and then come out and go well ­ as he did in the Olympics," John Whitaker said of the stallion, who had only one mistake in his two rounds in Sydney. "You've got to be an optimist and you have to keep battling on."

Before the draw took place ­ giving Britain the seemingly onerous task of going first ­ Massarella had insisted that the order was irrelevant. "You can win from anywhere, it doesn't matter whether you go first or last," he said. But it remains to be seen whether the British ­ or any of the other nations ­ can defeat the all-conquering Germans, who are second to go in the draw. They have a powerful quartet with Markus Ehning on For Pleasure being followed by Franke Sloothaak on Joli Coeur, Otto Becker on Cento and Ludger Beerbaum on Gladdys.

NATIONS CUP SHOW (Aachen, Germany): Preis des Handwerks: 1 Virtual Village Hunter's Level (J Whitaker, GB) 65pts, 53.35sec; 2 Scutt (W Melliger, Swit) 65pts, 55.19; 3 Traxdata Glenwood Springs (T Stockdale, GB) 65pts, 56.05. La Silla Masters: 1 Fighting Alpha (L Nieberg, Ger) clear, 44.30sec; 2 Leena (M Beerbaum, Ger) clear, 47.24; 3 Grande Dame (J Tops, Neth) clear, 51.41.