Winning Ways for Whitaker and Hughes

Sunday 21 December 2025

In front of a sell out audience, the CSI5* Cavago Six Bar proved to be the class to watch on the third day of London International Horse Show. A masterclass of controlled power, the competition went to five rounds and ended in a draw, between giant of the Show, Colorado — the 18.2hh mount of Sebastian Hughes — and legend of the sport, John Whitaker. 

Five nations were represented across ten riders in the starting round, before the second phase finished at 1.70m. Nine riders came forward, and the distance between fence two and three started to prove tricky, and resulted in five riders going on to round three, where the final fence stood at a respectable 1.80m.

Jos Verlooy incurred four faults in this round, and Marcus Ehning opted to withdraw — saving his horse for another day — while riders from Austria, Belgium and the home nation carried on. Round four saw a whopping first fence of 1.50m leading to successive obstacles at 1.60m, 1.75m and finally 1.90m. After Max Kühner subsequently withdrew, the class was confirmed as a British win when Sebastian Hughes and John Whitaker entered the ring for the next round. 

Sebastian Hughes and Colorado Volo then retired after a refusal, nevertheless securing at least second place. The biggest horse at the show, 18.2hh (188cm), and Six Bar specialist had previously won at CSI5* Longines Hong Kong International Horse Show, and at the CSI3* Horse of the Year Show

Sebastian said, “In 2024 we were third here, this year he has been fantastic winning in Hong Kong and at HOYS. Colorado Volo is a very versatile horse and jumps in many competitions, but he really excels in the power classes. We treat him very normally at home and have always  taken our time with him as he is so big, but he hacks, goes in the field and is like a big labrador in the stable. Today was not how we wanted to finish but I am very happy overall with his performance”

The combination’s retirement left it all for John Whitaker and Sharid to play for. John and the 16-year-old bay gelding jumped over the first fence and then refused, which meant that John and Sebastian equally won the class, with Max Kühner finishing third.

John said, “I knew all I had to do was complete to win but it was difficult to get to the fence as each obstacle is a separate jump and I couldn’t find a stride. The first round he was a bit fresh and strong, and by the third round he was really good and I was actually

Image: London International Horse Show

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