Don't give up on Oxted, Teal insists as he eyes King's Stand for sprint star

People should keep faith in Oxted despite three losses this year, his trainer and biggest supporter Roger Teal insisted on Tuesday when he confirmed the King's Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot remains the plan for his stable star.

The five-year-old gave Teal the finest moment of his career last summer when landing the Group 1 July Cup and was not disgraced in a valuable sprint on dirt in Saudi Arabia in February.

He was then second as the 8-13 favourite in Newmarket's Abernant Stakes, a race he had won so impressively in 2020, and came third under Ryan Moore in the Duke of York Stakes behind Starman at the Dante meeting last week.

King's Stand entries

Oxted, owned by Tony Hirschfeld, Stephen Piper, David Fish and John Collins, will next be seen in the King's Stand Stakes on June 15 and he is as big as 5-1 for that target.

"He's in good shape and he's come out of York very well and had his first canter back on Tuesday morning," Teal said. "He's in good form and all roads lead to the King's Stand.

"He won his race on his side at York, while there was no pace – you see how slow the pace was early. He likes a strong gallop and Ryan said that in hindsight he should maybe have kicked on, but he had Newmarket in the back of his mind [when Oxted was caught late].

"The ground was a bit softer than he wanted as well, but take nothing away from Starman who's a good horse."

Roger Teal: 'He hasn't run a dismal race at York'Credit: Edward Whitaker

Teal, who trains in Lambourn and is also due to field Ocean Wind against Stradivarius in the Gold Cup at the royal meeting, added: "Sprinters have their day. They're not going to win every time they go out.

"You have to take your turn in sprints and that's the way it is. You need an awful lot of luck on the day, being in the right place with the right speed.

"Don't lose faith; he'll be back and he hasn't run a dismal race at York. He's still run to a very high level and I've not lost any faith at all."

Battaash, last year's winner, heads the King's Stand betting at 3-1 from Breeders' Cup heroine Glass Slippers, a 7-2 chance.

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