Roger Teal hoping for Magic show at Doncaster

Simon Milham
October 18, 2022 12:38 pm

Rain would be a boost for Trophy challenge.

Roger Teal feels Dancing Magic will bely his odds should rain come in time for Saturday’s Vertem Futurity Trophy at Doncaster.

The son of Camelot is rated 106 after going close in all four starts, but has yet to get his head in front and is a general 25-1 shot for the final British Group One of the season.

Runner-up to Naval Power in a Listed contest over a mile at Haydock on his penultimate run, he was two and three-quarter lengths behind Silver Knott in the Group Three Autumn Stakes at Newmarket last time out.

Teal is ready to pitch him into top-class company for the first time and says his chance will be enhanced if the ground conditions go his way.

“He definitely deserves his chance in a race like that and I’d bring him right into it if the ground went in his favour,” said the Lambourn handler.

“He is going to improve with age and it will be nice if we can go there and run him with some juice in the ground. If he could finish in the first three or four, then you can look forward to his three-year-old career with excitement.

“The way he has run, you can’t be disappointed. He has never disgraced himself and I just feel he has not had conditions to suit.”

Teal is hoping that 180 miles further south, the weather will be very different.

For Caragio is primed to line up in the Group Three Horris Hill at Newbury – and he needs quicker ground.

🐴 One to follow!
Caragio confirms the promise of his debut at Newbury with an emphatic win from useful opposition at @LeicesterRaces. The @RogerTealRacing youngster is a half-brother to the stable’s 2000 Guineas runner-up Tip Two Win. pic.twitter.com/sAduLpYxDW
— Racing TV (@RacingTV) October 11, 2022

The son of Caravaggio improved from his debut at Newbury in powering to a three-length success on his second start at Leicester, downing the well-regarded Godolphin-owned Highbank.

Teal said: “Caragio is a very nice type. He did it with his ears pricked at Leicester, bless him. We are very happy with him. He came on a lot for his debut at Newbury and was still a bit green at Leicester, but hopefully he will come forward again.

“We will have to see what the ground does at Newbury. If it stays like it is, with glorious blue skies, he is a definite runner.

“But it depends. I’m not sure how he’d handle softer conditions.

“The way he won last time, there is only one way you are going to go with him. I’d rather run him in a Group Three than a novice. If we didn’t run, I’d put him away for the season and let him finish growing and maturing.

“We’ve entered him and at the moment we are planning on running.”

Oxted (left) received an upbeat report from Roger Teal (Edward Whitaker/PA)

Meanwhile, Teal gave an upbeat report on the stable’s sprinting star Oxted, who is on the comeback trail after missing this season with a tendon injury.

Winner of the King’s Stand at Royal Ascot last year before finishing third in defence of his July Cup title at Newmarket, the six-year-old has been sidelined since.

Teal said: “The big horse looks a million dollars. He looks scary. Everything is going the right way. The scans are good and he looks amazing.

“We will not go abroad this winter. We did that stupid thing before – we have got a long enough season of our own without wrecking it before the start of it! He’ll be back next year.”