Looking Back 25) Ambition

                   Regal Ambition

Another look back today at an oldie, but yet a very good oldie who David asked me to mention.  Regal Ambition was a 1984 born bay gelding by Royal Palace out of a mare called Quick Aim.  He was not even at Pond House very long but he did very well and was a Cheltenham Festival winner.

His career started very brightly as a three year old on the flat when trained by J R Shaw.  He made a winning debut over 1m2f at Leicester on 30^th March 1987 with Paul Eddery in the saddle.  He had two more runs that season finishing second back at Leicester and then fourth behind Kribensis at Sandown.

He returned the following summer in 1988 on the flat but found things more difficult in some top handicaps.  He ran nine times but only made the frame once when finishing second at Redcar. 

It was in August 1989 he arrived at Pond House to embark on a hurdling career as his owners, Skeltools Limited were keen National Hunt people.  He made a winning debut over jumps by winning at novice hurdle at Worcester on 15^th November 1989 with Peter Scudamore on board.  It was not just an ordinary debut, he annihilated a 24 runner field and won by 30 lengths!  Stepped up in class next time he went to Cheltenham in December and finished a short head second to Remittance Man, the comments in running say “…hit last, rallied under pressure, just failed”.  Later that month he got back to winning ways at Chepstow winning a novice hurdle by an impressive 15 lengths, he then followed up in Listed Company at Leicester winning by 25 lengths!

Next stop was the Royal and SunAlliance Novices hurdle at the 1990 Cheltenham Festival.  He destroyed a good field by over 12 lengths and the race comments read “led to 2^nd, led 3^rd, clear approaching last, impressive”.  Not bad in a strong championship race!

He was sold to race in America after his Cheltenham win.  Jonothan Lower travelled over to the states in April 1990 to ride him in a hurdle race in Kentucky.  Unfortunately he made a very bad mistake at the last hurdle and suffered a tendon injury which meant he was never able to race again. The good news is that he did recover and stayed over there and was a lovely riding horse in his later years.

Sadly he was a horse whose career was cut short and we probably never saw the best of but he won four races from fifteen career starts and was placed second twice as well, winning over £46,000 in prize money.

You can watch his Cheltenham Festival winning by following this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6_MSYFSZ-8