One look at the images on this page makes it easy to see why the Racing Post’s Edward Whitaker was named racing photographer of the year at the HWPA Derby Awards at the end of last year. He took the accolade for the second year running, and for the ninth time in his career.
This year’s portfolio includes the dramatic shot at the top of this page, which was taken just before morning exercise at Philip Hobbs’s yard in west Somerset.
‘I got there and saw this amazing sky, I could see what was going to happen, but I needed a horse,’ he says.
‘I grabbed the rider [Sean Houlihan, on Leapaway] and asked if I could do the picture. I was lying underneath this ridge, shooting up at the sky and just waiting for them to walk by.’
Truly beautiful — and something of a counterpoint to most of the rest of the portfolio, which are mainly action-orientated. We've reproduced a number of them here by kind permission of Edward and the Racing Post.
Credit: Getty
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Credit: ©Richard Cannon/Country Life Picture Library
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