British strike back as Grand Prix taken in a thriller

The trouncing by the Irish team in Friday's Aga Khan cup rankled in British bosoms until just after five o'clock at the RDS yesterday…

The trouncing by the Irish team in Friday's Aga Khan cup rankled in British bosoms until just after five o'clock at the RDS yesterday afternoon, when Robert Smith came back with the perfect reply. He snatched the Irish trophy from under Capt John Ledingham's nose in the Kerrygold Grand Prix. Smith and Ledingham made up half the quartet that had found the key to Paul Duffy's testing 14fence track, although the Irish could have doubled that number but for a temporary dearth of Irish luck.

Young pretender Erik Holstein was denied, not by the fences, but by the clock, when a solitary time fault held him down in fifth place, while defending champion Eddie Macken, Nations Cup hero Paul Darragh and Trevor Coyle all paid dearly for a single error apiece.

But it was Jan Tops of the Netherlands who was called in as pacemaker and, despite a close encounter with an RTE soundman en route round the course, Operette La Silla was through the finish clear in 49.85 to set the standard.

John Ledingham, who returns to Hickstead next weekend in search of a third Derby victory, had plenty of grandstand support as he pushed Kilbaha into maximum effort and the crowds erupted into applause as the clock flashed up 45.27. But the Army captain knew that he had left the door slightly ajar and, with two British challengers tuning up outside, could only wait and hope.

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His prayers were answered in part when Michael Whitaker and Absolom hit the second last, but luck ran out when Smith and Tees Hanauer survived a couple of desperate efforts to hurtle through the finish 0.15 to the good and wipe out memories of defeat by Eddie Macken 12 months ago.

Smith said afterwards: "I was beaten by six-hundredths of a second and then, when I watched it on the telly at the airport, I missed my flight home."

The Yorkshireman's success was merely a continuation of a long line of Smith wins as his father, Harvey - of two-fingers fame - had claimed his first of four victories back in 1958.

Robert Smith, who added the leading rider award to his haul for the week, had also finished second over the big wall on Saturday when Peter Charles gambled on running the nine-year-old T'Aime in his first Puissance and took the winner's cheque for £5,000 as the sole survivor at 7 feet 2 inches.

Marion Hughes of Ireland took the Kerrygold Speed championship yesterday.