Oxted (GB) (Mayson {GB}) will prepare for a domestic campaign, including a defense of the G1 July Cup, after finishing seventh while trying dirt for the first time in the Riyadh Dirt Sprint last Saturday.
“It all happened a bit quick for him,” said trainer Roger Teal of Saturday's race. “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. 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.”
Oxted kicked off a productive 2020 campaign in the G3 Abernant S., and Teal said the 5-year-old gelding could reappear there.
“We'll just regroup, let him get over his journey and we'll concentrate on our summer fixtures now,” he said. “We'll probably start off in the Abernant or the G2 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.”
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