Proudly sporting the winner's leopard print H&M horse blanket, Penelope Leprevost's mount Myss Valette soared into first place for France to take Sunday night's H&M Ivy Stakes, piping British rider Geoff Billington to the post by just under a second.

Three other British riders also made it into the jump off – Peter Charles, Robert Whitaker, Tim Stockdale and Ellen Whitaker but none of them could quite match the fast round of France's speedy pair.

Earlier in the afternoon, Dutch rider Eric Van der Leuten thwarted his British opponent's attempts and succeeded to take the FEI Rolex World Championship title and its £79,250 prize fund.

Traditional attractions such as the Shetland pony Grand National and the Dog Agility provided their usual entertainment and spectacular displays by both the Metropolitan Mounted Police and Jean-François Pignon made the evening the all round fun, family show it is renowned for being.

As to be expected, the shopping village was bursting full of horsey and rider goodies selling all kinds of horse-orientated merchandise imaginable from horse rugs, riding boots to horse massagers.

With Ben Maher and Guy Williams' victories earning their horses the right to the winner's horse blanket, Britain looks well set to more show jumping success in 2010.