Moore yard in mourning after loss of crack chaser Ar Mad at Sandown

Jamie Moore may have won the bet365 Gold Cup on Step Back but the mood at his father Gary's yard in West Sussex was subdued on Sunday after the loss of Ar Mad.

The stable's crack two-mile chaser suffered a fatal injury at Sandown on Saturday in the race before the Gold Cup, falling at the eighth fence in the Celebration Chase won by Altior and leaving Moore's brother Josh with another shoulder injury.

Ar Mad won five races for owner Ashley Head and the Moores, four of them in his highly successful novice chase season in 2015-16, including the Grade 1 Henry VIII Novices' Chase at Sandown – in which he beat Bristol De Mai by ten lengths – and a Grade 2 at Kempton.

Moore snr said on Sunday: "I always felt he'd be the horse to take the place of our Champion Chase winner Sire De Grugy and I don't think we ever saw his real talent apart from his good novice chase season. He was unfortunate with a few injuries.

"I bought him from France and when I first watched his videos I was so impressed, but it wasn't until he went chasing you saw how good he was going to be.

"He was a very quick jumper and going right-handed was the key to him, he was definitely better going that way. On his good days he was very good."

Josh Moore's career has been hampered by shoulder injuries and he hopes to discover on Monday how serious the latest one is.

"Josh is pretty sore but he won't really know the full extent of his injury until he sees a specialist, which we hope will be tomorrow," said his father.

The jockey's girlfriend Phoebe Cruse was the groom of Ar Mad and was suffering her second sad loss of the year.

The trainer said: "Phoebe used to look after Ubak, who we lost at Fontwell in February, so it's been pretty tough on her."

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