Star sprinter Oxted ruled out for the remainder of the year

Nick Robson
July 26, 2021 5:15 pm

King’s Stand hero has had knee surgery.

Oxted will miss the rest of the season after undergoing surgery to remove a chip in his knee.

Roger Teal’s stable star, who landed the second Group One of his career in the King’s Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot in June, is a gelding so connections felt it best to take a long-term view with the sprinter.

The five-year-old has not finished out of the first three in four British outings this year, most recently finishing a creditable third to Starman in the July Cup.

A first winner at the meeting for @CierenFallonJr!
An inspired drop back in trip by @RogerTealRacing as Oxted takes a ferociously-paced Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes#RoyalAscot pic.twitter.com/npwzUH2MCc
— Ascot Racecourse (@Ascot) June 15, 2021

“We’ve always known he’s had a floating chip which hasn’t been a problem, but after he hung in the July Cup we sent him for an MRI scan,” said Teal.

“You could actually see on the scan that the chip had moved and it was just between the joints, so the best thing was to have it removed as it had just gone in the wrong place.

“The fact he’s a gelding means we are here for a long time not a short time, so we all decided to have it removed now and hopefully he can have time to recover for next season.

“The surgery went well, there’s no cartilage damage and because he only had one race left this season, we didn’t want to risk him if it was in the wrong place.

“He’s home, he’s happy and has had his dressing changed today and it all looks good.”