Stratford's season swansong finally produced the field sizes we've all been yearning for in this driest of summers, as 64 runners filled the course and enclosures with activity and joie de vivre from owners, trainers and those on half term. Good to Soft ground has been a rarity since April, allowing more of the faces that only appear in traditional jumping ground to show up.

In the perpetual battle with the bookmakers, punters ended in the ascendant, after five of the seven races fell to favourites.

A finish to thrill the Almighty

Stratford director Stephen Lambert is a practising Catholic priest albeit that unlike his Irish counterparts, he wears no dog collar at the races. You might reasonably have expected him to back Churchman, who delivered a finish to the 2m 2f Blaze A Trail Stratford Hero Handicap Hurdle enough to give the Almighty a scare.

This Class 5 handicap looked innocuous enough, but turned in a stirring finish where winning rider Jonathan Burke earned every penny of his riding fee. Eight year old Churchman has hit the bar on numerous occasions, but this was a first success in 23 runs over hurdles, narrowly holding on by a rapidly diminsihing short head from the strong-finishing Finjimk from the in-form Nick Scholfield. Emma-Jane Bishop's River Glance was sent off joint favourite, and the loss of a plate in-running might have left him even closer than the 1 1/2l back in third.

Smart Novices

In pursuit of your Ten to Follow, you could do worse than select two smart novices who continued their education here. Warwickshire's two leading trainers sparred in the second division of the EBF qualifier, sporting sponsored by Charlie Longsdon, but there was no room for doubt about the winner, Forthfactor, who gave those brave enough to load on to his 1/8 price no cause for concern throughout, making all, and finishing 24l clear of Rock On Ronnie, to record Dan Skelton's 122nd winner of the term.

A trainer at the other end of her career is Henrietta Knight, but she's clearly not lost her eye for a horse. Ably assisted by Brendan Powell, Red Metal became her ninth winner and sixth individual horse to score in the first division of the same race, showing a clean pair of heels and 3 3/4l to Dan Skelton's Brecharnon.

A rare visit from Henry Daly

Summer racing has never been Henry Daly's bag, coming from the more traditional culture of the sport. Since the end of May, he's run just 15 times, only two of which have been chez nous.

However, 5 year old mare Trinity Street has showed promise previously, finishing fourth in Newbury's Grade II National Hunt Novices Limited Handicap back in late March. She justified that trust when winning her maiden here under Sam Twiston-Davies, making all to score by 5 1/2l.

Twiston-Davies was successful again at the opposite end of the card, when scoring for Anthony Honeyball with 1 1/4l winner And So It Begins.

Smart handicappers

The two handicap chases produced authoritative results.

Six year old Gatineau Park jumped straight from novice hurdling last term to handicaps, and the placing was justified, making all, and winning with something in hand. Three out, it had looked more of a fight as Paul Nicholls' Go West and Dan Skelton's Mr Hope Street briefly threatened, but Tom Bellamy, on his first day back from injury, sent him on again to close out the race by 5l for the Bailey-Nichols combo.

There was a similar winning margin for the slightly longer 2m 6f handicap, named after John Rowe, whose family own the racecourse. One Last Glance wasn't fluent at the third or the last, but in Conor O'Farrell, he had a highly able pilot. We'll be seeing a lot more of him I suspect over the coming years, and a second winner for Tom Gretton, another not much seen over the summer months.

The fixture also marked a farewell to racecourse doctor and one time able amateur rider Philip Pritchard, retiring from the former role. Well liked within the Weighing Room, a steady stream of riders made their way to record their thanks to him, barely any of which were born during his race-riding exploits. Pritchard, something of a maverick to racing authority, has been a go-to support for riders looking for well-being advice beyond the standard emergency treatment on a raceday.