Great Yorkshire Show - Cock O'The North: Coupe pips Smith in frantic finish as Roses rivalry is forgotten

Coupe - with the memory of an elephant - also said victory was revenge for the events of 2000 when Smith pipped him at the post in the very same class.

Preston-based Coupe was the last rider to tackle a seven-strong jump off and faced a tall order after seven-time winner Smith raced clear in a lightning fast time on Ilton. Yet just three weeks after winning the Hickstead Derby, Coupe and Golvers Hill went for broke to seal a dramatic victory by 1.36 seconds. Coupe admitted: “For show jumping, you couldn’t ask for better class. That was a great class and the crowd thoroughly enjoyed it, even with a Lancastrian winning and they were cheering me in the end. It was that type of class. We have a bit of banter being Yorkshire and Lancashire but at the end of the day you want good sport and Rob beat me 17 years ago when I was second here in the Cock O’The North. It’s payback time.”

Smith’s time was six seconds quicker than third-placed finisher Keith Shore’s efforts on Mystic Hurricane and victory looked in the bag. Informed that Coupe was gaining revenge for 2000, Smith laughed: “He has waited 17 years so I suppose he is entitled to one isn’t he? But I don’t like chucking any of them away so there you go.”