Bevis holds his nerve when going gets tough

Bob Ellis's course was not for the faint hearted, with a variety of fences causing problems for many of the top riders who were competing.

Five riders would be entitled to go through to the jump-off and clear rounds proved to be at a premium. Several riders retired including Geoff Luckett and Guy Williams and other well known names racked up their fair share of faults.

Others were just unlucky – Geoff Billington had the last fence down to finish with four faults and Tim Stockdale, who looked to be going well with Fresh Direct K2, had eight faults.

An exciting first round ended with just two clear rounds, Dave Quigley with Ulot and Robert Bevis with Courtney 6. Vicky Tulloch put in an excellent performance riding the smallest horse in the competition, Soliegette, to finish with just one time fault.

This meant that the two other riders on four faults with the fastest times would also be eligible for the jump-off and the well represented Whitaker family won through, Ellen riding Locarno 62 and Robert with Rooney 1V.

Ellen Whitaker, the first to go in the jump-off, went clear but Robert had four faults to give him a total of eight.

Vicky Tulloch added four faults to her one time fault and Dave Quigley picked up four faults. Robert Bevis kept his nerve to go clear with Courtney 6 and win the competition.

Ellen Whitaker moved up to second place and Dave Quigley was third, with Vicky Tulloch in fourth place.

Rob Bevis, who is based in Cheshire, was delighted with his horse's performance and said he had not expected to win. "He's only nine and in his first season at this level.

"He's been going well but I didn't think we would win because he's a bit inexperienced."

The top 12 riders in the competition qualified for today's Cock o' the North Championship, the culmination of three days of show jumping.