Hopes that either one of the Irish duo of Trevor Coyle or Peter Charles could wrest the Olympia Grand Prix from a star-studded field looked pretty good when both Cruising and Traxdata Nustria were clear at the first attempt to join 17 in the race for the Traxdata winner's purse last night.

But it was Germany's Rene Tebbel and the dashing stallion Radiator that proved too hot to handle, with Ludger Beerbaum and PS Priamos snapping close at their heels, while Irish dreams were left floundering in the dust.

With nine nations through to the decider only the Swiss pair of Willi Melliger and Lesley McNaught were eligible for the Champagne Taittinger challenge offering the combined weight of horse and rider to the Grand Prix winner if they had finished in the top five in Saturday's World Cup qualifier.

McNaught looked a pretty safe bet when she slashed off nearly eight seconds from the early target, but was immediately relegated by Franke Sloothaak, while Melliger, always struggling for pace with the gigantic grey Calvaro, could only clinch the leading rider award not the bubbly.

Coyle and Cruising were next in and Coyle's concerns about the stallion's spookiness were more than justified when his bid to take a stride out to the third resulted in a stop at the candlestick fence that had cost Cruising a win on Sunday night.

Peter Charles and Nustria, the only Traxdata representatives through for their sponsors, were down almost before they had started with the very first rail falling to wind up a week of near misses for the Hampshire jockey.

Nick Skelton, winner of the earlier speed class, was next in with his Kerrygold Grand Prix winner, Virtual Village Hopes Are High. Obviously on song despite the impending loss of his sponsor next June, Skelton successfully negotiated the stride that had flummoxed Coyle to break the 30-second barrier and move ahead.

But it wasn't enough to stay at the top and the very next contenders, Ludger Beerbaum and PS Priamos tightened up the target by a further .37, much to the disgust of the partisan British crowd as they watched their hero Skelton toppled.

But they couldn't stay quiet for long and, when Tebbel and Radiator flew from flagfall to slice off an unbelievable 1.41 the roof of the Olympia Hall nearly rose up into the cold night air as the applause and footstamping broke out.

Try as they might, no-one could catch the German, who had claimed the Puissance honours over a 7ft wall on Friday night as the first part of the compensation process for missing the World Equestrian Games having broken his shoulder eight weeks before the trip to Rome.

Trevor Coyle at least got one appearance in the winner's enclosure, if only a fleeting one after teaming up with Geir Gullickson to win the fancy dress pairs relay on Sunday night. He was also second in yesterday afternoon's speed class, and thankfully the damage to Balzane du Valon, which crashed into the barrier in the Knockout, proved to be less severe than first feared and, after being stitched for a flesh wound behind his elbow, the horse was declared fit to travel.

Traxdata Grand Prix - 1, Germany's Radiator (Rene Tebbel); 2, Germany's PS Priamos (Ludger Beerbaum); 3, Britain's Virtual Village Hopes Are High (Nick Skelton); Irish placings: 12, Traxdata Nustria (Peter Charles); 15, Cruising (Trevor Coyle).

Christmas Eve Six-Bar - 1, Switzerland's Gravur 004 (Beat Mandli); equal 2, Britain's Satchmo (Andrew Davies) and Germany's Le Patron (Rene Tebbel); equal 4, Ireland's Traxdata Carnavelly (Peter Charles), Holland's V&L Chanell (Jeroen Dubbeldam), Britain's Millbrook (John Renwick), Germany's Landdame FRH (Franke Sloothaak) and Switzerland's Domina III (Willi Melliger).

Christmas Hamper Speed - 1, Britain's Virtual Village Showtime (Nick Skelton); 2, Ireland's Vivaldi (Trevor Coyle); 3, Britain's Equity (Di Lampard); 4, Britain's Traxdata Glenwood Springs (Tim Stockdale).