It’s been a long time between drinks for Woodstock, who hadn’t won for two years! His last victory came at Newbury on 16th August 2024, and although there have been plenty of good runs since, the handicapper didn’t miss any of them and relented very little.

A 20-runner field and a middle draw at Ripon didn’t look the obvious setting for him to finally get the monkey off his back, but the drop back to 6f, combined with the visors and a great ride from Oisin Orr did the trick.

WOODSTOCK, travelled smoothly into contention and did enough to gain his first win for two years. He was gaining revenge on this runner-up for a narrow C&D defeat last August, and this was his first win over 6f.

Racing Post, 2026

Maybe we’d been stretching his stamina over seven furlongs, especially since we put the visor on. Maybe we should have dropped WOODSTOCK back to six sooner. He was desperately due a win, the handicapper hasn’t been very kind.

Ruth Carr, 2026