Max McNeill celebrating a winner

Quebecois tees up Cheltenham Festival bid despite defeat to Personal Ambition at Newbury

By Sporting Life

Horse Racing

Tue February 17, 2026 · 1h ago

Quebecois was turned over at long odds-on at Newbury by Personal Ambition but his team remain excited by their chance at Cheltenham.

Quebecois needed to run for a fourth time over fences in order to qualify for handicaps at the Cheltenham Festival next month so made a relatively quick return to action in the opening novices' chase having last run at Cheltenham a little over three weeks ago.

Although Quebecois was favoured by the weights, the 2/5 favourite was dropping back to two miles for the first time since running in the Champion Bumper in 2024 and lacked the gears to be competitive in the three runner contest.

Personal Ambition (9/4) soon had a handy lead of up to 10 lengths and was never challenged, winning by 17 lengths for trainer Ben Pauling.

Personal Ambition, who was wearing blinkers for the first time, had rather lost his way over fences but had shown smart form on occasion; including when beating Jango Baie over hurdles in a Grade 2 and when running well at the same level over fences at Ascot.

Unlimited Replays

of all UK and Irish races with our Race Replays

Discover Sporting Life Plus Benefits Sporting Life Plus - Join For Free

Winning rider Ben Jones said: "I was delighted over the first two and I could see Cobden dropped off me a bit and I just wanted to press a little bit down the back, put him under pressure.

"He's a very good jumper, he's just a bit sloppy at one or two, and down the back there was no need for him to rubber one and he just got high enough and gave it a jolt so I gave him a reminder to not let him do that again and, to be fair to him, up the straight he answered every question I asked him."

When asked on Sky Sports Racing whether he would be keen to ride him at the Cheltenham Festival, Jones replied: "I'd be up for it, he's definitely got the engine.

"It's just his mental state, if that would hold up to it in the big fields and stuff. The blinkers definitely got a bit more out of him today and hopefully now that will do his confidence the world of good and we can go on to bigger and better things.

"He's always had the engine; it's just trying to get everything on the day."

As for Quebecois, owner Max McNeill said: "Fair play to Ben's horse; he knew what he was doing and took us out [of our comfort zone] and on ground like that over two miles.

"It's qualified him now for the Ultima and all roads head there."

Quebecois is a 20/1 chance for the Ultima with Paddy Power, non-runner no bet.

All eyes on Swindon

Swindon Village holds two entries for the Cheltenham Festival and trainer Charlie Longsdon believes his charge has a bright future ahead of him.

The 5/2 chance made light work of the testing conditions in winning the novices' hurdle over two and a half miles to record his second win over obstacles.

"Bassy [David Bass] came and schooled him last week and said 'we should never have run at Windsor'. We were due to go somewhere else and we decided to go to Windsor; it just broke his stride the whole time and he just couldn't relax and, therefore, got tired and didn't stay three miles.

"He was in at Wetherby last week when it was called off and we wanted to go somewhere like-for-like and I think Newbury is very similar to Wetherby.

"He's a good horse on his day on horrible ground. There's no doubt he's the one we've got to look forward to; he's next year's and the year's after horse. We haven't got the strongest team of horses. This horse is one we've got to pin our hopes on, keep him sound and keep him for some big days and there are definitely some big days ahead.

"We've got plenty of horses. We're not a small yard but we're not a big yard either and every smaller yard needs a good horse and hopefully he can be one. We've had over 800 winners in our career, we haven't forgotten how to train; it's just frustrating when we haven't got the numbers, haven't got the money to spend but it's just life, the way it goes.

"Hopefully, he can keep us ticking along happily and he looks like a chaser through and through."

Unlimited Replays

of all UK and Irish races with our Race Replays

Discover Sporting Life Plus Benefits Sporting Life Plus - Join For Free