It was wonderful to see College Oak get his head back in front again yesterday at Stratford under a lovely ride from Gavin. He jumped brilliantly, he travelled kindly, he quickened up, battled bravely and stayed strongly. The application of blinkers and riding from the front have really helped him, whilst he coped well with the step up in trip and the tight track didn’t seem to faze him either. It seems a while since he won a nice handicap at Ascot during lockdown, but he didn't seem to take to chasing, and it's taken a while to get him back into top shape again, but he had run well over hurdles this season, and he deserved to win again. It was lovely to have a few of the Old Radleian's there as well as Lynda.
College Oak wins at Stratford for the Radleian Society, Lynda Lovell and Paul Stacey.
Unfortunately, poor Shady Daisy didn't have any luck in the concluding bumper. She had been an unlucky loser at Newton Abbot on debut when hampered, and again yesterday she didn't have the rub of the green. She travelled kindly on the front end of the race, and looked to be in the best position on the turn for home, but it appears that the jockey on Ilanz went for a gap (that wasn’t there) between us and Mactavish and that somewhat intimated Shady Daisy and forced her off her line and she ducked the wrong side of a marker and collided with the running rail and unseated Kevin Brogan. Thankfully both horse and jockey got away with just a few bruises.
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