Seasonal problems and injuries have forced the retirement of Oaks and Trafalgar Cup winner Freedom Emma.

The Richard Yeates-trained bitch was hoping to to try and retain her Oaks title, but is in season again and now will be retired.

She is off to Ireland to be mated with Derby winner Westmead Hawk.

No one will forget the emotional scenes when the late Stuart Locke-Hart, then suffering from cancer, collected the Trafalgar Cup, but sadly never saw the brilliant victory in the Oaks.

Still with the stud theme, Jolly Poacher, retired after landing an unprecedented three Oxfordshire Gold Cups, will cover his first bitch called Bally Hi in Ireland.

Set to take Poacher’s place on the track is an expensive buy called Jolly Gino who has joined Nick Colton's kennels.

Oxford finished six points behind leaders Swindon in the first leg of the BAGS inter-track championship at Monmore yesterday.

The Richard-Yeates trained Mash Mad Monkey was the only winner in a contest that saw Swindon lead on 27 points followed by Hall Green 25, Monmore 24, Oxford 21, Perry Barr 15, Yarmouth 14. Oxford stage their leg on Friday.

Richard Baker’s kennels continue in fine form with a four-timer at Sunday’s BAGS where the most impressive winner was Pickles Found It, coming from eight lengths adrift to win by a neck.

Terry Kibble’s Dippy Boy and Dippy Doo caught the eye at Monday’s trials with a 37.06 over 595 metres, and 27.31 over four bends respectively.