Equestrianism: Daring Whitaker in double triumph

MICHAEL WHITAKER yesterday added two further victories to his tally at the Nations Cup meeting here. Having triumphed in the major contest for the European Union Prize on Everest Midnight Madness, he collected the Preis der Vegla on My Mesieur, who outpaced his rivals for the second day running.

On Tuesday, Whitaker won the Preiz der Commerz Bank on My Mesieur. Yesterday he gambled and won on Midnight Madness in the opening event. He had been the runner-up with the bay gelding in the Mercedes-Benz Preis the previous day, when narrowly defeated by Brazil's Rodrigo Pessoa. This time, Nelson Pessoa, Rodrigo's father, set the target with a rapid round on Loro Piana Chouman.

The Briton beat him by just 0.07sec, but he had to wait for the younger Pessoa (the last of 11 into the jump-off) before his prize was secure. Rodrigo's Special Envoy lost a shoe in the collecting ring, but he was nevertheless in hot pursuit of Whitaker until his mount made a single error.

'Midnight Madness is a very fast horse,' Whitaker said. 'The faster he goes the more care he gives to the fences, it makes him concentrate.' His increasing confidence in the horse, who will be his mount for the World Equestrian Games, is mainly because Midnight Madness has become less spooky with age. 'Or maybe I'm getting better,' Whitaker said.

John Whitaker on Gammon and John Popely on Bluebird had one fence down in the first round. Kelly Brown left all the fences intact with Alfredo, but had a technical refusal into the Treble where the rider turned a circle having found herself in the wrong stride.

The Treble had a triple-bar over water. 'The first part was very wide and it put pressure on the horses. A few of them got really confused,' Michael Whitaker said. 'It can be dangerous having a fence like that in a treble.'

David Broome had been appointed the Spanish team trainer until after the 1996 Olympics.

NATIONS CUP (Aachen, Ger): European Union Prize: 1 Everest Midnight Madness (M Whitaker, GB) clear, 42.28sec; 2 Loro Piana Chouman (N Pessoa, Bra) clear, 42.35; 3 Taggi (S von Roenne, Ger) clear, 43.00. Preis der Vegla: 1 Everest My Mesieur (M Whitaker, GB) 55.03sec; 2 Prince d'Incoville (H Godignon, Fr) 58.91; 3 Yuma (L Nieberg, Ger) 59.10.