Stunning skies, terrifying falls and the thrill of the (steeple)chase: Six stunning pictures captured by the racing photographer of the year

Leapaway (ridden by Sean Houlihan) takes in the dawn light at Philip Hobbs's Sandhill racing stables in Somerset was one of Edward Whitaker's winning images.

(Image credit: Edward Whitaker)

published 4 January 2020

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.

Japan (Ryan Moore) beats Crystal Ocean (James Doyle) in the Juddmonte International, York.©Edward Whitaker / Racing Post

The calm before the storm at Lingfield, as Edward took this image moments before a torrential downpour began. ©Edward Whitaker / Racing Post

This picture — taken at Goodwood — was inspired by the Tour de France, which was taking place at the time. 'It could easily have been cyclists speeding past,' says Edward. ©Edward Whitaker / Racing Post

Tiger Roll (Davy Russell) wins the Grand National at Aintree.©Edward Whitaker / Racing Post

King's Odyssey (Adam Wedge) fall at the last fence in the 2m 4f handicap chase at Newbury. 'Although it's unfortunate, jockeys falling make great photographs,' says Edward. Hopefully that's some consolation to them if they end up in plaster — though in this instance, both horse and rider walked away unhurt. ©Edward Whitaker / Racing Post

Credit: Getty

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Annunciata grew up in the wilds of Lancashire and now lives in Hampshire with a husband, two daughters and an awful pug called Parsley. She’s been floating round the Country Life office for more than a decade, her work winning the Property Magazine of the Year Award in 2022 (Property Press Awards). Before that, she had a two-year stint writing ‘all kinds of fiction’ for The Sunday Times Travel Magazine, worked in internal comms for Country Life’s publisher (which has had many names in recent years but was then called IPC Media), and spent another year researching for a historical biographer, whose then primary focus was Graham Greene and John Henry Newman and whose filing system was a collection of wardrobes and chests of drawers filled with torn scraps of paper. During this time, she regularly gave tours of 17th-century Milton Manor, Oxfordshire, which may or may not have been designed by Inigo Jones, and co-founded a literary, art and music festival, at which Johnny Flynn headlined. When not writing and editing for Country Life, Annunciata is also a director of TIN MAN ART, a contemporary art gallery founded in 2021 by her husband, James Elwes.