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‘My V-sign was the best publicity stunt Hickstead has ever had. It’s life, it happened and that’s what live television is all about – life’: quote of the day from Harvey Smith on that infamous moment in 1971
Harvey Smith wins the 1971 British Jumping Derby at Hickstead, and is awarded the trophy. But later that evening, the directors announced he would be disqualified for making a “disgusting gesture”.
Fifty-five years on, we are still talking about Harvey Smith’s V-sign during the 1971 Hickstead Derby at the All England Jumping Course.
For those who would benefit from a reminder of what happened, here’s an extract from the H&H report, published 20 August 1971, by Pamela Macgregor-Morris.
“There have only been a dozen clear rounds in the history of the competition, and this time there was none,” Pamela writes.
“First outstanding round was jumped by Stephen Hadley on Prospero, who came down the bank so fast that he had no chance at the post and rails at its foot and had a time-fault as well as three for a stop. But this held the lead until the last but one to jump, the defending champions, Harvey Smith and Mattie Brown, drew level to dispute the lead.
“Mattie Brown went on to win the barrage with eight faults to 12, and third place was shared by four eight-faulters.
“Harvey Smith was presented by Mr John Wilson, managing director of WD & HO Wills, with the golden horse (arrived from Yorkshire the previous day), and to all intents and purposes he and Mattie Brown had joined the other dual winners, Seamus Hayes with Goodbye and Nelson Pessoa with Gran Geste, in the British Derby’s annals.”
But this glorious double had a twist.
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A box on the report adds: “Some hours after Harvey Smith had received the Wills Jumping Derby Trophy last Sunday, Mr Douglas Bunn, owner of Hickstead, sent him a telegram saying that ‘because of your disgusting gesture the directors and I have disqualified you’ and telling him that all prize money was forfeited.
“The ‘gesture’ referred to – a two-fingered one – was delivered, apparently towards the directors’ box, after Harvey had completed his winning round on Mattie Brown.
In 2022, Harvey shared his side of the story in a video interview with the Hickstead team.
He relates how, on returning to Hickstead the year after his 1970 Derby win on Mattie Brown, Douglas Bunn asked him if he’d brought back the trophy.
He hadn’t (although the H&H report implies that the trophy was recuperated from Yorkshire in time) but retorted: “It doesn’t matter, I’m going to win it again!”
There followed, according to Harvey, a good deal of negative banter about the wellbeing of his horse. When he knocked a fence down in the first round, he remembers huge cheers from the directors’ box. It clearly riled him.
“I thought, you bas***ds!”
When he ultimately did recapture the title, he stuck two fingers up at the directors.
“It’s life, it happened, it’s what live television is all about – life,” he says. “It’s the best publicity stunt that Hickstead has ever had.”
Reactions to the V-sign
While the tabloids lapped it up, the equestrian press weren’t so sure. Horse & Hound distanced themselves from the confusing situation of the disqualification, putting the Derby Trial winners Ann Moore and Psalm on the cover that week, rather than the more traditional British Derby winner.
The cover of H&H featured Ann Moore and Psalm, who won the Derby Trial, rather than the Derby winners – because Harvey Smith was temporarily disqualified.
(Image credit: H&H Archives)
Dorian Williams – under the pen name “Observer” – wrote: “Though the commercially minded may well avow that any publicity is good publicity, I cannot help feeling that showjumping in general would have been better off without the spotlight glare attracted by last Sunday’s events at Hickstead.
“I cannot recall any incident in the history of the sport that has drawn so much public attention to it, in the National Press and on TV, as the dispute between Harvey Smith and the directors of Hickstead. And with all the discussion and arguments on the subject, only one thing seems to be certain: at 5.15pm last Sunday afternoon Harvey won the Jumping Derby on Mattie Brown without any shadow of doubt. For that I say, “Well done, Harvey!”
“For the rest, the ‘incident’ of the two-finger exercise is being referred to the stewards of the BSJA, who will shortly hear evidence from all parties concerned and any other witnesses. I doubt whether the stewards will consider it within their province to adjudicate on the destiny of the Derby prize money of £2,000.”
Clippings of the H&H news coverage of the event
(Image credit: creditUnknown)
H&H also published a lawyer’s opinion on whether the disqualification should stand. The lawyer concluded that the rules of the competition did not apply to any “conduct of objectionable nature” that happened after Harvey had produced a winning round – because it did not relate to his “manner of riding while negotiating the course”.
As history relates, Harvey Smith and Mattie Brown were indeed reinstated after the infamous V-sign to confirm their second Derby victory. But when H&H went to press soon after Douglas Bunn’s telegram, the result was still in the balance.
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Martha is an experienced journalist who is mad-keen on horses and dogs. Her reporting CV includes the Paris Olympics, European championships, Aachen World Equestrian Festival and World Cup finals. After growing up with assorted liver and white springer spaniels, she enjoyed 14 years with two rescue dogs. Now, her constant companion is Fidget, an extremely energetic and habitually muddy black and white springer. Martha has written on topics as diverse as a top horse’s clone to the best GPS trackers for dogs, as well as equestrian and rural matters for Country Life, The Field, The Times, The Spectator and The Telegraph alongside Horse & Hound.
