College Oak is out of a winning sister to the three-time Cheltenham Gold Cup winner, Best Mate, and the Grade 1 winning hurdler Cornish Rebel, as well as the multiple winner Inca Trail. College Oak won a bumper and a novice hurdle before winning a competitive handicap at Ascot. However, he didn't appreciate going chasing in the autumn, so we gave him the winter off, and ran well back over hurdles to be 3rd at Ffos Las on his seasonal return. He took a backward step on his 2nd start of this summer, but he was held up in a slowly run contest, and he got back on track last time out at Ffos Las when making the running in first time blinkers when narrowly beaten in a photo finish. The step up in trip here should help, and I hope he copes with the tight track, but a reproduction of that effort would see him going close again.
