'Is this actually happening?' - Richard Rowe relives fairytale Sandown victory

Richard Rowe was still struggling on Sunday to believe the "fairytale" of an emotional success in the race named after his long-time boss Josh Gifford.

He has landed the bet365 Gold Cup as both a jockey and a trainer but felt that winning with Up The Straight on the Sandown card was "one of the best day's racing" he had experienced.

His runner held on by a neck to collect the Josh Gifford Novices' Handicap Chase, which commemorated the four-time champion jockey and Grand National-winning trainer, who died in 2012 and whose widow Althea and son Nick presented the prize.

Watch: Up The Straight win at Sandown

"It was one of the best day's racing I've ever had, without a doubt," said Rowe, who rode more than 500 winners as a jump jockey, "and to get the trophy from Althea and Nick Gifford – we're all very close – was a fairytale for me.

"It meant an awful lot, I was absolutely thrilled to win the race. I'd always thought I'd love to win it ever since it's been there. It was brilliant.

"I came to Josh's as a school-leaver on a two-week trial in the very hot summer of 1976 and stayed until I retired in 1991."

James Davies was the jockey who drove Up The Straight to a narrow win, which made success all the more poignant for Rowe.

The trainer recalled: "Hywel Davies came to Findon about six weeks after me and we were very close, though we were very competitive as there were probably six of us competing for rides behind Bob Champion, and we remained very good friends.

Richard Rowe: 'We'd dreamt about it for the last three months'Credit: Gerry Cranham

"So for his son James to ride him was the extra special bit. It was fantastic.

"I was quite confident from the second-last that he'd probably get there, but he wasn't going to do it easily and I didn't want to believe it.

"You pinch yourself and think, 'Is this actually happening?' because we'd dreamt about it for the last three months, thinking we had a horse who could be very competitive in Josh's race.

"It's always a worry they could be over the top at the end of the season – he won his first race in October so he'd been going a long time."

But Rowe, who won the then Whitbread Gold Cup from his West Sussex base with Eulogy in 1999, also had thoughts for local jockey Josh Moore, who is in critical care in hospital.

"He's very much on everyone's mind at the moment; that was far more important than our day yesterday," he said.

"I'm very close to Gary. I rode with him and I speak to him pretty much every day I go racing, and Josh and Jamie have ridden for me. They're a family who are very close to us, so there were two Joshes on my mind yesterday."

More to read:

Belargus seals 'very emotional' win for Nick Gifford in race named after father

The bomb squad and a birthday present: trainer starts the week with a bang

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