Havaila wins Gold Cup at Sandown as Sean Bowen crowned champion jockey, but course is criticised

Havaila won the Bet365 Gold Cup in the jump finale at Sandown, where Sean Bowen was crowned champion jockey and champion trainer Dan Skelton broke through the £5m barrier in prize money.

Havaila, ridden by Caoilin Quinn and trained by Gary Moore, was a 5-1 chance for the handicap chase and won a three-way sprint to the finish, beating Our Power (14-1) into second place by a short head, with 4-1 favourite Road to Home in third.

It was a third win in as many races for Havaila.

Having landed the Sussex National last time out, co-trainer Gary Moore said that the seven-year-old could be ready to take on the Grand National.

“I suppose we might have to go down the Grand National route after that, but let’s get today over with and worry about next season in the autumn,” said Moore.

The winning jockey, meanwhile, believed that the hardening ground at sun-kissed Sandown, where 18 horses were withdrawn from the day’s eight races, had a part to play in his victory.

“He’s going from strength to strength,” said Quinn. “He loves this quick ground and he’s not stopping yet, I’d say.”

Elsewhere, it was a bittersweet day for champion trainer Dan Skelton, who had two early winners before his horse Thistle Ask had to be put down following a heavy fall in the Celebration Chase.

Nicky Henderson chose to withdraw the hugely popular Jonbon from the Grade One race, which was won by 12-year-old 11-1 chance Edwardstone, with the trainer saying: “You can’t be risking him, it’s quick.”

The going was confirmed as ‘good, but good-to-firm in places’, with Montregard, owned by JP McManus and trained by Tom Lacey, taken out of the Gold Cup, in which he was expected to go off as favourite.

Sir Anthony McCoy, a 20-time champion jockey, was heavily critical of the going, highlighting the number of withdrawals and saying the Sandown finale should never be held on a course that is firmer than good.

Andrew Cooper, Sandown’s clerk of the course, agreed that the conditions should ideally be either good or even good-to-soft, but added that while the course had a good watering system there had not been “a millimetre of rain in April”.

“It’s not a good look for people wanting to watch good horse racing at the end of the season,” said McCoy on ITV Sport, before accepting the clerk of the course had a “thankless task”.

“I don’t know what you can do, maybe Sandown is not the right place to have the end of the jump season, if that is the case, but I just don’t think it is a good look to have that many non-runners on a day like today.”