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.”
New to the Paulick Report? Click here to sign up for our daily email newsletter to keep up on this and other stories happening in the Thoroughbred industry.
Copyright © 2021 Paulick Report.
