Pembrokeshire conditional jockey Richard Patrick scored the biggest victory of his career in the £160,000 G3 BetVictor Gold Cup on the Kerry Lee-trained Happy Diva.

The eight-year-old mare beat Brelan D’As by a neck at odds of 14/1. She was the first mare to take the race since Lady Cricket in 2000.

In an eventful race in which only eight of the 17 starters finished, Happy Diva led approaching the second-last fence where 4-1 favourite Slate House, who was travelling smoothy after being nursed into the race by jockey Robbie Power, exited.

That left Happy Diva in command but at the line she was hanging on as Barry Geraghty on JP McManus-owned Brelan D'As closed the winning margin down to a neck.

After the race Patrick said: “It’s a dream, I couldn’t have had a better run round. She was very unlucky in this race last year when a bad crash happened in front of us and we got brought down four fences from the finish. She has got what she deserved today.

“She is unreal to ride because she travels well and jumps brilliantly. You can sit wherever you want to - she is almost going too well a lot of the time, but she is epic. She is the best horse that I have ever ridden.

“This is massive for me. It's easily the biggest win of my career."