“She’s always sharp, but I’ve never known her like this,” exclaimed Ellen afterwards. “I was just in survival mode really. But I’m still up there in the leading rider of the show list, and that’s what matters!”

The young Egyptian rider Abdel Said, who has captured the Olympia crowd’s heart, departed in the first round and Norwegian Geir Gulliksen retired after the second in order to save L’Espoir for Sunday’s important World Cup qualifier.

Guy Williams and Billy Twomey both went out in the third round and Robert Whitaker, who survived an erratic jump in the second round, disappeared in the fourth when his borrowed ride, the topically named Sherlock K, ran out.

Earlier in the evening, Ellen Whitaker kept up her family’s amazing strike rate with a win in the Accenture Stakes, a speed and handiness competition, on her veteran Kanselier.

It was a third win out of three for the crowd-pleasing 17-year-old gelding, who has been honoured with an award from the Veteran Horse Society.

“He’s just a complete superstar,” said a breathless Ellen, whose fast time of clear in 50.56sec overhauled the new European Champion Kevin Staut from France on Pinball by just 0.26sec.

“He loves the atmosphere of these big shows and never seems to get tired.”

Third place was filled by last to go, Ireland’s Cian O’Connor, who really went for it aboard Irish Independent Echo Beach but finished 0.17sec in arrears.

Ellen’s cousin Robert set the early standard with a neat round on Lacroix and eventually finished seventh, but other riders endured all sorts of unexpected excitements, the sharp turn to fence 3 proving particularly taxing.

This caught out several, including Scott Brash (Sebastian lll), Olympic gold medallist Laura Kraut (Unique), European team gold medallist Pius Schwizer (Joy’s Mouche) and Nick Skelton (Transmission).

Pius, however, still leads the H & M Leading Rider table with 40 points, one ahead of Ellen Whitaker, who has a clear 7-point lead over Kevin Staut. Michael and Robert Whitaker are fourth and fifth.