A great second-round recovery by the home team, with particularly brilliant performances from Athens-bound Nick Skelton and Robert Smith, saw the British win the sixth leg of the 2004 Samsung Super League Nations Cup series in Hickstead on Friday, July 23, 2004.

Lying equal-third with 16 faults along with the strong favorites from France, the USA and Belgium at the halfway stage added just a single time fault to complete with 17, while the French slotted into the runner-up spot with 20 ahead of the ever-impressive Belgians in third.

Hickstead’s unique derby-style fences are always guaranteed to create problems for horses that have not jumped at this venue before and this year was no exception. At 4.3 meters wide, the water jump asked for a big jumping effort, and course-designer Bob Ellis left riders with a tough battle to regain control as they faced into the 1.60m rustic derby rail which followed. This line claimed a good number of victims, but poles fell all around the track and, to their initial delight, it was the Irish who led the way at the end of round one on a four-fault score.

Despite only getting his first Nations Cup run of the season with Luidam, the stallion which has been selected as reserve for the Irish Olympic squad, Billy Twomey kicked off with a clear round and Marion Hughes’ five faults with Heritage Transmission could be discounted when Captain Shane Carey and Killossery lowered just the derby rail and Kevin Babington and Carling King jumped clear.

The Dutch slotted into second with eight faults at this stage, followed by the British, Americans, French and Belgians all sharing a score of 16, but the Italians were already in trouble with 27 faults on the board, while the Germans were even further adrift in last place with 28.

The British rallied strongly the second time out however as Robert Smith and Mr. Springfield completed the only double-clear performance of the entire competition and when Richard Davenport and Luc, who had collected eight faults at their first effort, were fault-free they were looking like real contenders.

Robert Whitaker and Qualite had also dropped two fences in round one, but the mare did not seem at all happy at her second attempt and, in a round that appeared to become increasingly confused, the 21-year-old son of British legend John Whitaker made the mature decision to pull up and retire.

Now things were not looking so promising because the Dutch were threatening after Mathijs Van Asten and VDL Groep Kwidanta matched their first-round score of four faults, while Roelof Bril and Billy Orange followed their opening clear with just a single error. So if Peter Geerink’s three mistakes in round two could be discarded by a clear from Wout Jan Van der Schans, then a jump-off against the British might be on the cards.

First, Nick Skelton needed to keep the British in the frame, and he knew he had a big job to do because he had retired in the first round after a fall from Russel, who suddenly decided not to take off at the triple bar at fence eight, putting down again after take-off and sending his rider shooting over his head.

Following last year’s British victory, the crowd was really hoping for a repeat, and Skelton was left with a very difficult task. His top horse Arko had initially been earmarked for this Super League outing but was coughing on Thursday and, following a veterinary check, was diagnosed with a lung infection. "He jumped well yesterday," Skelton said, "but I knew he wasn’t right and the vet said that if he is rested for seven days or so he’ll be fine for Dublin, so I had to change horses".

Russel shied away from almost every fence and would not go on the bridle, but Skelton showed the classic horsemanship which has gained him such huge respect throughout his career to nurse the