'It was probably the most surreal 15 minutes of my life' - Alan Johns bows out in style as final ride is a winner

Popular jockey Alan Johns enjoyed a fairytale end to his riding career when partnering Bumpy Evans to victory in the finale. 

The rider announced he was quitting the saddle to pursue a media career on Sunday morning and he showed the weighing room what it was missing when he landed the DragonBet Sponsors Alan Johns Handicap Chase in dramatic circumstances. It was his 223rd winner.

He overcame a series of errors from the 8-13 favourite, including at the first fence, but was still within hailing distance in the home straight. While the leader Tedwin Hills blundered his chance away at the third last, Johns cajoled the quirky Bumpy Evans to get the better of Higgs by a length and three-quarters.

"Still got it!" the rider joked. "It was probably the most surreal 15 minutes of my life. He's a bit mad and he wanted to bolt to the start, so I got permission to go down early, but then they had a presentation lined up for me with the rest of the jockeys.

"He wasn't too bad on the way to the start but he wasn't very nice during the race. I didn't think I was going to win the whole way around and then to his credit he's very game at the business end of the race. Coming to the last I thought he'd do it. 

"I had 30 friends and family here cheering me on and it felt like riding a Cheltenham or a festival winner. They were five deep at the winner's enclosure!"

Alan Johns (right): will continue his social media work now his riding career has come to a close

Explaining his decision to stop riding, he said: "I don't feel like I'm riding enough winners and having enough rides and on top of that I'm quite keen to pursue a career in media and take on a new challenge.

"I couldn't see my fortunes changing that much and I'm 35 now and I wasn't prepared to gamble and reinvest and spend time in lots of different yards speculatively hoping it would bring about an upturn in opportunities. 

"I was quite a late starter to riding and I've always kind of been doing it on a temporary contract and things have slid backwards for me in the last couple of years. Some people want to squeeze everything out of riding but I'm quite excited to try and get some more experience under my belt."

Johns has worked for Great British Racing and the Jockey Club among others and is hoping to leverage his knowledge in new areas in the future.

"I'd love to be on TV talking about racing," he said. "I quite enjoy the social media, I feel I've got an angle on what works and what doesn't. I've started to run social media accounts for jockeys and that could be a nice little business."

On his career highlight, he added: "I'd have liked to have more big winners, but I rode a big handicap chase winner around Cheltenham on Eva's Oskar and that was a particularly good day."

Talented Tutti

The Supreme Novices' Hurdle form received a boost as Tutti Quanti landed the opening novice hurdle under Freddie Gingell. 

The 2-7 favourite ran out a deeply impressive winner for Paul Nicholls, who hit strong form at Aintree's Grand National meeting with Grade 1 winners Caldwell Potter and Kalif Du Berlais.

He will bid to continue that momentum at the Scottish equivalent next weekend, but the Scottish Champion Hurdle entrant Tutti Quanti is unlikely to make the journey up to Ayr.

"He's an improving young horse who has just needed time," Nicholls said. "I need to discuss with his owner but he's highly likely to go straight novice chasing in the autumn. He definitely won't run in the Scottish Champion Hurdle as Kabral Du Mathan runs there."

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