Major George Hugh Wyndham Oakford was born in Cricklade, Wiltshire, in 1928. He served with the Royal Artillery and won the Royal Artillery Gold Cup in 1959 on Sunton Heath.
Major Oakford rode in that race every year from 1954 to 1960, six of those occasions being on Sunton Heath. Their first attempt together ended on the deck, one of seven fallers that year in a dramatic race which saw only four of the eleven starters complete the course.
They fared better the following year, finishing fourth. Later that month, Sunton Heath provided his owner-rider with his first success under National Hunt rules when winning at Wincanton on Easter Monday, April 11, 1955.
They finished third in the 1956 Royal Artillery Gold Cup and second in 1958 before finally winning the race in 1959, taking the lead four fences from home and drawing clear to score by 12 lengths. They may well have won it for a second time in 1960 but for Sunton Heath deciding he’d rather be doing something else and running out at the first of the Railway fences when leading. They eventually completed the course a distant last of three finishers.
Major Oakford did not ride in the next three renewals, presumably because he was stationed overseas. While abroad, he evidently combined his military duties with a successful race riding career because, having claimed the full 7lb allowance when winning on Sunton Heath, he was no longer entitled to claim any allowance when he returned to the fray in 1964. He must thus have achieved the requisite 25 wins needed before losing the right to claim.
His mount in the 1964 Royal Artillery Gold Cup was Shellwell, on whom he finished fourth. Over the course of the next three seasons Major Oakford rode Shellwell in a total of 31 races, including the 1966 Royal Artillery Gold Cup, two Grand Military Gold Cups and the Kim Muir Chase at Cheltenham. Sadly, they did not win any of them, their best effort being when finishing second, beaten two lengths, in the 1966 Grand Military Hunters’ Chase.
Horse and rider both made their farewell appearances on June 10, 1967, pulling up in a two-and-three-quarter mile hurdle race at Stratford on the final day of the season.