Since donning his Charles Owen Ayr 8 riding hat once again, Michael Whitaker has proved himself unstoppable.

Back in competition for just a week since his doping ban, the Whitaker brother has come back and won the World Cup qualifier in Verona, Italy with Beatrice Merten's Insul Tech Amai.

Just five riders made Conrad Holmfield's jump-off and Germany's Gilbert Bockmann set the target from first draw with a strong clear.

However Michael managed to knock 0.5 sec off the leader's time immediately after with the eight-year-old. "Amai is a fast horse anyway," said Michael. "In the middle of the course, I took one [stride] less than everyone else to a double."

Michael also gained second place with Amai in an earlier 1.50 m jump-off class, as did his stable-mate Portofino, despite neither of the pair having done any work since May.

Hopefully, this will be only the start of Michael's winning spree since he put his Charles Owen Ayr 8 riding hat back on.