Group One Winner Oxted Back To His Best Says Teal

Trainer Roger Teal is pleased with the progress of his stable star since his below par piece of work ahead of the Sprint Cup and is confident he can run another blinder and potentially add a second Group One in the British Champions Sprint Stakes at Ascot next month.

Oxted has bounced onto the racing scene this term having showed huge promise as a juvenile when landing his final contest in September, he has gone on to do things for his handler they never thought would be possible.

After building in size and maturing for the winter, Oxted started his three year old career in the Group Three Abernant Stakes, seeing off a decent field of seven runners who have previous group race experience.

Having looked very professional at Newmarket he was sent back there for his first experience in a Group One with the July Cup over six furlongs attracting a superstar field of runners.

Roger Teal's sprinter saw off a classy field to land his first ever black type victory with his jockey, the young Cieren Fallon also landing his first ever Group One success.

Teal believed that the horse missed the Haydock feature because of an allergic reaction to something but is back on track and ready to go again now.

(Credit Racing Post) The trainer said: "We don't know what it was exactly. He came out with lumps all over him, so he had a reaction to something. His bloods were okay but he was a bit off and we needed to give him a shot to get it to clear, so he wouldn't have been able to run anyway. It was a strange one.

"He seems fine now – he's over whatever it was – and he's back on track. We're hoping to go to Ascot for the Sprint on British Champions Day."

Teal believes if he was on peak form and would have ran in the Sprint Cup then he would have gone close and definitely thrown it up to the winner Dream Of Dreams.

"If Oxted had turned up at Haydock in his best shape I think we'd have been thereabouts. I don't think Dream Of Dreams would have had it all his own way,"he said.

"He's done it well and he stays seven [furlongs] but we've won over seven as well. He did the job well on the day but I think if we were in the race it'd have made his case a lot harder."

Teal added on the duo meeting on British Champions Day: If the weather stays like it is I'd be very confident, but come mid-October it's likely to be wet. I've said all along he's bred to go on soft ground. He's had two lesser runs on soft ground but I think we maybe read too much into that – he was weak last year.

"He's a big, strong horse this year. Ideally you'd want some sort of good in the ground, but we go there open-minded."