Oxted Displays Powerful Finish In King’s Stand; American-Trained Extravagant Kid Third

Oxted finished powerfully to give trainer Roger Teal and jockey Cieren Fallon a first Royal Ascot victory in the five-furlong G1 King's Stand Stakes on Tuesday.

The victorious rider roared with delight as he passed the post on the 4/1 winner, waving his whip in the air as he registered his name on the Royal Ascot honor board – a meeting where his father Kieren rode 30 winners.

Last year's G1 July Cup winner had a length and three quarters to spare over runner-up Arecibo (28/1), with US challenger Extravagant Kid (18/1, trained by Brendan Walsh) a neck further behind in third.

Favorite Battaash (11/8) briefly threatened to follow up last year's victory in this race, hitting the front with two furlongs to go, but faded late to finish fourth.

Fallon said: “It's a dream come true – a Group One at Royal Ascot. All credit goes to Roger, Harry [Teal, son and assistant trainer] and the team back home. I've been very blessed and very lucky to sit on a horse like this so early in my career.

“Harry does all the hard work on him behind the scenes, I'm just very lucky to be on him on the racetrack.”

Fallon added missing the horse's last appearance, owing to being in quarantine in France for a ride on a horse that then did not run in the French 2,000 Guineas, is “part and parcel of racing”.

“It's come good today and that's the main thing,” he continued. “I'm glad to get back on board and all credit to the owners to give me that faith and put me back on him.

“Oxted has a lot of speed and can run keen over six furlongs. Dropping back to a stiff five was always going to suit and I took my time on him today.

“I got a lovely trip, they went a real solid gallop early on. I didn't panic, normally he's a horse that can be quite keen, but I just gave him his head, let him get into a nice rhythm and just picked up when I needed to. He's just shown that the July Cup isn't a fluke. He is a proper Group One horse.

“It means a lot to have a Royal Ascot winner. Dad has done what he has done and people always ask me 'are you going to do what he's done, are you going to do this'. It's great to have him behind me as well as my family, my bosses Sheikh Fahad and Mr Haggas and my jockey coach Michael Hills. I've got people round me to help me keep learning and progressing.

“I am just blessed to have all the people around me, to help me and encourage me and motivate me.”

Roger Teal said: ““It's just unbelievable. I mean I'm speechless because we've dreamt about these days for so long, I mean we had it in the July Cup last year, but a Royal Ascot Group One. I mean, come on! A yard of our size, doing this is amazing.

“Harry's done all the work with him. It's just a big family affair. The lads back home are amazing with the hard work they put in. It's just credit to everyone, and the owners for supporting me. Dreams do come true.

“This is obviously his first run back over five furlongs, so I said to Cieren, just keep it simple. Just go straight from your draw, and see how it pans out later on. When we were quite outpaced, I thought oh no, maybe I've done the wrong thing.

“But then at halfway I saw Cieren just revving him up a bit and I saw him react, and then it was like poetry in motion. Stamina kicked in then. We knew there was going to be pace, for sure, with the likes of Battaash. But he's got a great cruising speed; he was a little out of his comfort zone but he was able to use his stamina.”

Arecibo's trainer Robert Cowell said: “To be honest, we weren't totally surprised that he ran so well. He's turned a corner with us recently, and you could just tell that he was in great form leading up to this race. Mentally more than physically – maybe he just feels a million dollars. He looked it, and was squealing round the paddock, and I had a suspicion that he could run well. But when you are taking on the likes of Battaash and Oxted, you think we'll be there, thereabouts, but not win, but he's run a really solid race and I couldn't be more proud of him. He's really improved.”

Jockey Jim Crowley said of 11/8 favorite Battaash, who finished fourth: “He will come on plenty for that run. He just needed it more today.”

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For The Love Of Horses: Racing Industry Unites To Showcase Racehorse Welfare

Over the past several days, a disturbing photograph of trainer Gordon Elliott and footage involving amateur jockey Rob James have brought the racing industry under global scrutiny once again.

The industry has responded with a grassroots social media campaign designed to showcase the love and care with which racehorses are treated, via the hashtags #ForTheLoveOfHorses and #RacehorseWelfare.

Following is a selection of some of the top posts:

 

In the last 24 hours the racing industry has been under hard scrutiny over the welfare of horses in training. …

Posted by Ben Delong on Monday, March 1, 2021

In the last 24 hours the racing industry has been under hard scrutiny over the welfare of horses in training.

We would…

Posted by Harry Whittington Racing on Tuesday, March 2, 2021

In the last 24 hours the racing industry has been under hard scrutiny over the welfare of the horses in training.

I'd…

Posted by Kelly Balfour on Monday, March 1, 2021

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Holland, Fallon To Train In Newmarket

Former Group 1-winning jockey Darryll Holland has taken out a training license and will operation from Harraton Court Stables in Newmarket with former champion jockey Kieren Fallon as his assistant.

“The process has being going on a long while,” Holland said. “We were actually going to announce everything on Tuesday, but news travels fast in Newmarket.”

Holland, whose star mounts included multiple Group 1 winner Falbrav (Ire) and top stayer Double Trigger (Ire) (Ela-Mana-Mou {Ire}), and who already owns Harraton Court, has been taking his training modules over the last several years.

“I've always had it in the back of my mind, but then I went out to Canada,” Holland said. “I just thought the timing was right now and it's a perfect transition. I own the stables, I have done since 2007 but I was leasing it out. I've taken it back on. If I didn't own it, starting out the premises could have been a bit of a burden, but we won't have that. It will be good fun, we can get some nice people in, owners and things like that–it will be enjoyable for everyone.

“We're looking to start off with about 20 horses, but we have plenty of orders coming in so we'll go to the sales. I think we'll get full pretty quickly. It will be different working with Kieren for a change, we were rivals in the saddle but we've become good mates. We've got a wealth of knowledge that you can't buy–70 years between us. The pair of us have been around the world twice, ridden in most countries and if we can't get a winner between us there's something wrong.”

Holland said that Fallon's son, Group 1-winning rider Cieren Fallon–second retained rider to Qatar Racing–will also be part of the team.

“Young Cieren [Fallon] will ride, but his first priority is Qatar Racing. When available he'll get the leg up. So will Frankie [Dettori]; we'll put him on a quick one. He actually sent me a good luck message the other day. We'll have a big launch on Tuesday, but we've got a website up and running with a bit more info on for everybody at harratoncourtstables.co.uk .”

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Saudi Arabian Dirt Likely for Oxted

Group 1 winner Oxted (GB) (Mayson {GB}) is likely for the six-furlong Riyadh Dirt Sprint instead of the 1351 Turf Sprint at Riyadh in Saudi Arabia on Feb. 20. A winner of the G3 Abernant S. last June, the bay gelding added the G1 July Cup at Newmarket one month later. After undergoing wind surgery, Oxted resumed with a fifth in the Oct. 17 QIPCO British Champions Sprint S.

“At the moment we are favouring the dirt really because it's six furlongs,” said trainer Roger Teal, whose son Harry will accompany his stable star to Saudi Arabia, at a Saudi Cup press conference. “Obviously, it's an unknown surface for us but because it's a flat six furlongs I think that is where we are going to go. He's a good-moving horse. He likes the top of the ground and handles all sorts of ground.

“He trains on an all-weather surface every day, so I'm just hoping. The reports are very good about the dirt track in Saudi. That gives me confidence. There's not too much kickback apparently. As long as there wasn't going to be tons of kickback, I think we're going to be happy to run him on it.”

He added, “The timing of the race was good for us. It was enough time to give him a break and then prepare him for the season ahead. We can go to Saudi, come back, maybe go to Dubai for World Cup night if things go to plan. We can then prepare for Ascot and another go at the July Cup. We'll be a little bit wiser after the event. He's pretty straightforward and takes things in his stride, but you don't know until you do it. He should be fine.”

Regularly ridden by Cieren Fallon, Jr., the now 5-year-old gelding would reunite with Fallon in Saudi Arabia.

“He definitely gets on so well with the horse,” said Teal. “Hopefully when Cieren's available he can ride him whenever. This horse has got good gate speed. He travels strong. He's got early pace so I think the pace of the race will suit him fine. The pace beat us at Ascot [on Champions Day] last year. There wasn't enough pace for him.”

“Harry will go with him out there,” he added, but was non-committal on his own attendance. “You can't make any firm plans yet, but we'd like to be there if we can. He's pretty much on track. He's been stepping up weekly. We're very happy. We'll just keep tipping away with what we're doing and get him there in good shape.

“If we're allowed to I'm looking to getting him to Wolverhampton just to have one good sprint round the turn because he's never run round a bend. That's another thing we've got to find out about him. He's in good shape. He had a short break after Ascot. He had a month away and came back looking tremendous. He's really blossomed through the winter.”

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