Stunning skies, terrifying falls and the thrill of the (steeple)chase: Six stunning pictures captured by the racing photographer of the year
The winning portfolio that saw the Racing Post's Edward Whitaker earn the Racing Photographer of the Year award is spectacular.


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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Annunciata is director of contemporary art gallery TIN MAN ART and an award-winning journalist specialising in art, culture and property. Previously, she was Country Life’s News & Property Editor. Before that, she worked at The Sunday Times Travel Magazine, researched for a historical biographer and co-founded a literary, art and music festival in Oxfordshire. Lancashire-born, she lives in Hampshire with a husband, two daughters and a mischievous pug.
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