Riding Harvey Smith's Sultano, Laura was followed in second place by another woman rider, Tina Fletcher, riding her husband Graham Fletcher's Promised Land.

The only other woman to have won this competition in its 40-year history is Di Lampard.

Laura, who works for Harvey Smith and his wife Sue at their racing stables in Bingley, said it had been her dream to win this competition.

"He's the horse of a lifetime. I'll never find another like him,"
an emotional Laura said afterwards.

The soft going in the main ring suited this horse and he had produced another excellent round on Wednesday to come second in the 2008 Renault Jump.

"I take him over the moor on the gallops at home, he doesn't like hard going, he prefers it soft," Laura said.

She had been hard at work exercising horses on the gallops at 7am yesterday before arriving at show to have one of the only two clear rounds in the final jump-off along with Tina Fletcher.

Fourteen horses went through to the final jump-off including another ridden by Tina Fletcher, Overa.

Laura took the top prize of £7,000 and the Perpetual Silver Challenge Trophy.

Geoff Luckett was in third place riding Munline, Ben Maher took fourth and fifth places with Robin Hood W and Pablo V and Ellen Whitaker was sixth riding Ashdale Futuro.

Before the competition began the 40th anniversary of the event was marked by a reunion of previous winners, including Harvey Smith, who was present to see his employee make history.

Also attending were Graham Fletcher, a winner on several occasions, David Broome, Robert Smith, Geoff Glazzard and Mark Fuller.