News
Thursday April 30 2026
Sussex National winner takes last major steeplechase of the season at Sandown
Young horse re-enforces Plumpton's reputation as a nursery for top flight talent
Havaila has supporters on the edge of their seats
Sussex National winner Havaila ended the season in emphatic fashion, when getting up in the final stride to snatch the bet365 Handicap Chase at Sandown on Saturday, in a race that rivalled the famous Diamond Edge-Plundering finish of 1986.
Sent off third favourite at 5/1, Caolin Quinn nursed the seven year old around in rear until taking closer order at the railway fences on the final circuit, as a group of nine still remained in contention. Our Power and the Mullins challenger Road To Home led over the last and took the far side rail, whilst Quinn came up the centre of the track.
Distances of a short head and a neck told the story of nodding heads that could have readily gone to any of the three brave horses.
Moore family is a bellwether of the sport
Gary Moore's battered and weatherbeaten face tells the story of his career as a jump jockey, but Josh has managed to retain his looks. But like so many jockeys, his riding career was foreshortened by a crunching injury at Haydock in April 2022 where he broke a leg, punctured a lung and damaged his lower back.
The fall kept him in hospital for 12 weeks, followed by a long recuperation that ended in his accepting an inevitable retirement from the saddle.
In May 2024, Josh added his name to the professional licence with his father at Cisswood Stables in Sussex to continue a dynasty that began with Gary's father Charlie. Charlie never hit the big time, but was a force to be reckoned with around Fontwell, Plumpton and the then course at Folkestone before he died in 2000.
Gary, by contrast, is a regular in the top ranks, topping the £1m prize money mark again this season. The stable's strong presence on the flat also makes them among the top flight dual purpose yards in the country.
Quinn re-enforces his solid reputation as a rider to watch
Caolin Quinn, for whom this marquee triumph sealed a career best season, concluded the season on a high with 41 winners, the lion's share provided by the Moores.
Sandown has been a particular success story for the pairing. Nine winners together at Sandown is rivalled only by eight winners at Plumpton and Fontwell, illustrating their regional dominance to the South-East. In a region that once housed a thriving racing hub, with Findon and Pulborough combining with Cisswood, the Moores have become a lonely beacon of consistent excellence in a region denuded of top quality jumps bloodstock.
Quinn is another product from the factory for jump jockeys that is Ireland. His innate natural horsemanship was amply illustrated in another success for the yard in March's Imperial Cup at Sandown, in which a poor jump at th last lost him his irons. Quinn lost no momentum and rode his way to a 1 1/2l win on Mondo Man, and to a legion of admirers.
