AMBRO LOBELL -- FAR MORE THAN A QUEEN
by Jackie Cowan
Ambro Lobell. retired at the end of Annaghmore's racing season, on 31st October, was often termed "Ireland's pacing queen". She well merited that title, but she was far more than that. She generated mystique, not only because she took on "the boys" in her well-travelled career, but also, perhaps, because of her style of racing. She achieved 33 lifetime wins, including 13 free-for-alls; and in this, her swansong year, she won the All-Ireland Turf Harness Championship at Ballineen in August (bringing the title home to the North for the first time ever), and late in September, clocked 1.57.7 when winning the Tony Russell Memorial Flying Mile at Annaghmore.
Alex Patterson bought Ambro Lobell ('95, Armbro Harrier/Gemma's Lobell) in 1999, from her breeder, Gordon Watson. She handed Patterson his first win with her in the Lady Lakes festival in 2000. Among her other wins was her first free-for-all in the S4C weekend at Portmarnock, and won Musselburgh 2002, with Brenda Dean driving. But these are only some of her successes -- she raced against the best in the UK and Ireland, on all surfaces and distances. As Alan Wallace puts it, "Ambro Lobell? Simply the best. Raced everywhere and won everywhere. If she did not win, she was very close. She should have been called "The Iron Mare!"
My first chance to see Ambro Lobell was at Wexford 2003, when she won the free-for-all. This year, she impressed even more, when winning her heat and then the final of the high-grade handicap. In the final, she battled it out with the market leader, the mighty Scarlet And Gold, and then showed "iron" when pegging back frontrunner, Coalford Jet. In her handful of races that I saw, she always came late, and that was part of her mystique. Would she or wouldn't she? It could hardly be put better than what Alan Wallace says, "When in a race with her, at the last quarter, if she was close to you, 95% of the time you were ****** "
Patterson had said that he would bring Ambro Lobell to the All-Ireland in Cork, and this year, he did. Heats and final, in Ballineen, were on the same day, and the strapping mare qualified in second. In the final, under lashing rain and on heavy going, the pair missed the start completely. They trailed for two circuits, and going into the last, began to make a move. The power of Ambro Lobell's renowned late drive was exemplified here, as she prevailed first over Coalford Wizard (winner of the high-grade handicap final at Caheragh the following week) and emerged victor in a photo-finish with Coalford Jet.
It is not surprising that Patterson, who is the third generation of his family involved in trotting, says that Ambro Lobell is the best they have ever owned, and adds, "I enjoyed all of her races, win, lose or draw, but being the first horse from N. Ireland to win the All-Ireland will always be a bit special to me."
And so the curtain has come down on the career of one of the "greats" in recent years. All racing needs equine heroes, or in this case, a heroine, and it should be no surprise if Ambro Lobell does not provide one herself in a few years, as she has an early spring date with Cam Security, which stands at John Shanahan's Lakeside Stud in Leap.
"The toughest mare ever in Ireland with a heart the size of herself." That's what Brenda Dean says, and she should know. Dean raced against Ambro Lobell, not only with the great Spice Girl but also with Stormy Reveller. And she drove Ambro Lobell to their great free for all victory at Musselburgh. "I will never forget the night Alex phoned me to ask would I drive "Lobell" in the Musselburgh FFA. I was so thrilled I danced around the kitchen. She gave me the easiest win ever (at Musselburgh); all I had to do was sit up and steer. I pulled the plugs fifty yards from the line and I felt like she could go around again."
"A wonder mare owned by a wonderful family", Dean says, and adds, "I can't wait to see her offspring" -- a sentiment that would be echoed by many.