Ambassadorial has been a revelation since joining the Melbourne Cup-winning stable of Tony and Calvin McEvoy, continuing his rise with victory in the Easter Cup (2000m) at Caulfield on Saturday.
Making it three wins in succession, the son of Fiorente delivered his biggest career success, scoring as the $4 favourite under apprentice Logan Bates.
Ambassadorial defeated Sea What I See ($6) by 1½ lengths, with Immediacy ($17) a short half-head away in third.
“A big thank-you to Anne Peacock and Jane Chapple-Hyam for sending us the horse and giving him the opportunity with us,” Tony McEvoy said.
“He’s been such a pleasure (to train). There will be no problem rehoming him as everyone in the stable just adores him.
“He’s such a gentleman and what a magnificent racing pattern he has.
“He’s gone from strength to strength.”
McEvoy joked that part of the gelding’s improvement had come from a change in approach.
“We’ve decided not to train him,” he said.
“We’re still charging training fees – I hope Jane didn’t hear that, but we’re keeping him really fresh.
“He’s a very light-fleshed, athletic horse and doesn’t require a lot and if you look at his CV, he has been with trainers that do train them, so we decided to make a change.”
Previously trained by Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, and later Alex Rae, Ambassadorial has now recorded three wins and two placings from five starts for the McEvoy stable.
Connections will now test his staying credentials, with the Mornington Cup (2400m) on April 18 shaping as his next target. “He’s a gelding, he’s perfectly sound and he’s in rare form,” McEvoy said. “What we need to know is whether he runs a mile-and-a-half. If he does that, it opens a brand-new chapter for him.”
The McEvoy team capped off a successful day with a double, as Rue De Royale claimed the Geoff Murphy Handicap (1200m).
A shot at the Goodwood (1200m) at Morphettville next month could now be on the cards for that runner.
Punters can follow Ambassadorial’s rise through the staying ranks and compare markets for the Mornington Cup via leading Australian betting sites.
Leave a Reply