Teal plotting route to July Cup defence for Oxted

Keith Hamer
February 25, 2021 11:15 am

Sprinter finished unplaced on dirt in Saudi Arabia last week.

Roger Teal is to prepare Oxted for a domestic campaign following his trip to Saudi Arabia.

The July Cup, which Oxted won last summer, will be ultimate objective for the five-year-old, possibly preceded by the Abernant Stakes which he won in 2020 on the way to Group One glory in a truncated season.

“We’ll just regroup, let him get over his journey and we’ll concentrate on our summer fixtures now,” said Teal.

“We’ll probably start off in the Abernant or the Group Two Duke of York. Those two are possible starters for us.

“Then we’ve got Ascot and obviously the July Cup as the main target again.”

Oxted tried his luck in the Riyadh Dirt Sprint, and while far from disgraced, he was ultimately out of the money in seventh place.

Teal felt Oxted was uncomfortable with the frantic early pace of the race having had to compete from a wide draw.

“It all happened a bit quick for him. He just never got to travel. Everything happened a million miles an hour and he was just taken out of his comfort zone a bit,” said the Lambourn trainer.

“The draw didn’t help. It forced us to go a bit more forward than we wanted. I don’t think I’d blame the surface. He moved well on the surface in the morning. I just think the style of dirt racing was probably a bit too fast and furious.”