HAYDOCK Sprint Cup joint-favourite Oxted has been ruled out of Saturday’s Group 1.
After a poor piece of work on Tuesday morning, trainer Roger Teal took his star out of the six-furlong sprint.
Oxted had been vying for favouritism in the Group 1 with Dream Of Dreams and last year’s winner Glass Slippers.
But Teal explained: “I’ve spoken to the owners, and we’ve decided we’re going to miss Saturday because he just didn’t fire this morning, unfortunately.
“We’ve had a trach wash done, and we’re still waiting on the results of that. Everything was fine yesterday, and the horse worked really well on Saturday, but didn’t this morning.
“We always let him tell us in his final bit of work before a race whether he’s ready for it, and I just wasn’t happy, and you can’t go into a Group One if you’re not 100 per cent confident the horse is at the top of his game.
“It’s devastating for all of us, because we’ve been looking forward to going to Haydock for a long time – but with the ground on the softer side as well, we have to be 110 per cent sure, because if he did run and disappointed I’d kick myself to the church and back.”
Oxted’s next objective is likely to be the Qipco British Champions Sprint at Ascot next month.
“We’ll see what the trach wash shows up, but we have got Champions Day,” Teal added.
“It’s disappointing to be missing Haydock, but that’s horses for you. All the boxes need to ticked.”
Coral cut Dream Of Dreams into clear 11-4 jolly, with Glass Slippers a 7-2 chance.
Commonwealth Cup champ Golden Horde is now 5-1 for Clive Cox.
