Trainer Roger Teal says Oxted is set to miss Saturday’s Sprint Cup after a disappointing workout on Tuesday morning.
The four-year-old has won his last three outings, including the Darley July Cup Stakes at Newmarket, and was the favourite for the Group One contest at Haydock.
However, the highly-rated speedster put in an underwhelming performance during a workout on Tuesday and Teal has confirmed a change of plans.
Teal said: “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.”
The Qipco British Champions Sprint Cup is likely to be the next target for Oxted, although Teal admits they will wait for the results of his trach test before making a decision.
He added: “We’ll see what the trach wash shows up, but we have got Champions Day. It’s disappointing to be missing Haydock, but that’s horses for you. All the boxes need to ticked.”
