Murray and Shirley Popplewell have an asset in very short supply in the Arabian horse business … Patience. Just about the only thing that Popplewells have done in haste during their fifteen or so years in the horse business was to purchase their handsome bay herd sire, Bey Ambition.

Bey Ambition (Regal Actor JP x Bey Shahs Lady by Bey Shah) immediately proved himself worthy of that haste by winning the Two-Year-Old Junior Colt class at the Las Vegas World Cup that same week and then by going on to end that show season as the Region 17 Champion Stallion and the 2008 Canadian Reserve National Champion Two-Year-Old Colt. By the close of his Halter show career in 2011, Bey Ambition had achieved the highest honors against the finest stallions of his generation. He was the 2009 U.S. National Champion Futurity Colt and the Canadian Reserve National Champion Futurity Colt, and then, the U.S. Reserve National Champion 4 & 5-Year-Old Stallion. The crowning moment came in the summer of 2011 when Bey Ambition brought the title of Canadian National Champion Stallion home to Saskatoon.

For Bey Ambition to win trophies and roses and accolades was a great thrill for Murray and Shirley but not nearly as important as the test to come … would he be a great herd sire as well as a great show horse for Rae Dawn Arabians?

If there were any doubts about Bey Ambition’s future as a breeding horse, his first three foal crops put them immediately to rest. His offspring have proven to be remarkable, balanced and beautiful. Nearly all have been bay with minimal white. They arrive and stand on long, well-formed legs with refined, gracefully arched necks and elegant carriage.

Their temperaments are friendly, inquisitive and eager to please. They take to the show ring with pleasure and pride. The February Scottsdale Show in Arizona has become an important social debut for many of the Bey Ambition babies. His oldest daughter, RD Alotta Ambition appeared there as a yearling and was named Scottsdale Signature Stallion Reserve Champion Auction Filly AOTH, winning over $19,000 dollars in prize money. Five others from that first foal crop took Top Ten and better awards at the 2011 Scottsdale Show and one, HD Habanero, captured the title of 2011 Scottsdale Junior Champion Colt AAOTH. It was the harbinger of wonderful things to come.

In the last three years, 22 sons and daughters of Bey Ambition have won awards at the Scottsdale show. Among them were RD Dynamo, 2012 Scottsdale International Reserve Junior Champion Colt and 2013 Scottsdale Signature Stallion Champion Three-Year-Old Colt AT H; RD Kardero, 2012 Scottsdale Reserve Champion Yearling/Two-Year-Old Gelding Halter AAOTH; RD Caprice, 2013 Scottsdale Reserve Junior Champion Filly AAOTH; RD Dasanni, 2013 Scottsdale Reserve Champion Gelding; RD Texcello Bey, 2013 Scottsdale Reserve Champion Junior Two-Year-Old Colt, and RD Murillo, 2013 Scottsdale Junior Champion Colt AAOTH. All building a remarkable record for a young sire.

Murray and Shirley are the first to give great credit to the Rae Dawn broodmares, a group they have carefully gathered, nurtured and cultivated over the last dozen years. “It’s interesting that we’ve had some of our very best Bey Ambition foals from our foundation broodmares,” Murray notes proudly. “TF Falconsimprint, our Falcon BHF daughter, arrived as a two-year-old in 2002. She is the dam of four national winners. Her first foal by Bey Ambition, RD Dynamo, was 2012 U.S. Reserve National Champion Two-Year-Old Colt and is a four-time Canadian and U.S. National Top Ten.”

The TF Falconsimprint’s daughter, RD Arietta Bay (Baywatch V++) is the dam of the 2012 Canadian and U.S. National Champion Two-Year-Old Gelding, RD Shantar, one of Bey Ambition’s top national winners. GF Simply Magic (Magic Dream CAHR x GF Providence) is the dam of the Bey Ambition filly, RD Magic Moments, 2012 Region 17 Reserve Champion Yearling Filly. Perhaps most importantly she produced the Falcon BHF daughter, RD Fabreanna, four-time U.S. National Champion and Reserve and the dam of the Bey Ambition colt, RD Bravatti and his full sister RD Ambianna. RD Bravatti was the 2012 Region 17 Champion Yearling and Region 7 Reserve Champion, and RD Ambianna is a 2012 Canadian National Top Ten Yearling Filly.

The Utrillo NY++ daughter, Enchanteress has also proven very successful with Bey Ambition, producing 2013 Scottsdale Reserve Champion Three/Four-Year-Old Halter Mare RD Dukessa; RD Texcello Bey, 2012 Canadian National Top Ten Yearling Colt, and RD Murillo, 2013 Scottsdale Junior Champion Colt AAOTH. The two 2010 Bey Ambition foals out of multi-National Champion NW Siena Psyche have both turned out well. The colt, RD Habanero, was 2011 Scottsdale Junior Champion Colt AAOTH and Reserve Champion the same year at the Las Vegas Breeders World Cup. His sister, RD Siena Serenade, was 2012 Region 17 Champion Mare.

A number of the most successful broodmares bred to Bey Ambition also carry the blood of the famous national champion stallion, *Padron. An extraordinary beauty and a sire of exceptional broodmares and show mares, the *Padron line carries on today through the famous sire and national winner Padrons Psyche, his world famous son, Magnum Psyche and his national champion son, Magnum Chall HVP. Each of these stallions has been successful with Bey Ambition through their daughters or granddaughters, particularly when that daughter’s bloodlines also include the influence of Bey Shah and *Bask.

Bey Ambition’s first national winning offspring was RD Dynamo, a 2011 U.S. National Top Ten Halter winner. That particular event was overshadowed in rather spectacular fashion when seven Bey Ambition sons and daughters took Top Ten or better awards at the 2012 Canadian and U.S. National Championships. These included RD Shantar, RD Dynamo, RD Ambianna, RD Safira, 2012 U.S. National Top Ten Yearling Filly, GH Vincenzo Bey, 2012 Canadian Top Ten Yearling Colt, RD Dasanni, 2012 U.S. National Top Ten Yearling Gelding, and RD Texcello Bey, 2012 Canadian Top Ten Yearling Colt.

Bey Ambition sons and daughters started arriving in 2010 and this year these youngsters are celebrating their third birthdays. As the fourth crop of Bey Ambition foals take their first tentative steps into the green pastures of 2013, their older siblings are busy learning about bridles, saddles and correct leads. This transition is particularly important to Murray and Shirley, as their young Bey Ambition horses make the critical move from Halter to performance.

“At Scottsdale this year we invited performance trainers out to our farm on Tuesday during the show,” Murray says. “We had over a hundred people, trainers and their customers, attend a special showing of Bey Ambition three-year-olds. During the event I asked small groups of trainers just exactly what they wanted in a potential performance horse. They evaluated the Bey Ambition horses in front of their peers and the feedback was quite positive. Frequent comments included ‘clean throat’, ‘slow foot’, ‘great hind foot reach’, and ‘naturally athletic.’”

The Popplewells sent two, top young horses home with horseman JT Keller for some evaluation, training and marketing. “I’ve had RD Bravatti and RD Shantar for Murray and Shirley this spring,” says JT. “When I started working them I was pleasantly surprised at how quickly they acclimated and got started. When I’d had the horses just about a month a great group of people came by one weekend … Western open and amateur owners and riders. I showed both of the Bey Ambition colts and they were just great, showing off their beautifully shaped necks and soft, slow-footed action. The Whitaker family was very positive about the colts and decided immediately to breed their mare Aliage SSA (a wonderful mare and the dam of national winners Omnia A and Onyx A) to Bey Ambition. I am so pleased to be starting RD Bravatti and RD Shantar. They’re great young horses. The more you engage the Bey Ambition horses the better they get!”

“We’ve had terrific success thus far and each year seems to go better and faster,” Shirley says. “We are so very proud of Bey Ambition being named both the top 2013 Scottsdale Halter horse sire and seventh overall as a Halter sire at the 2012 U.S. and Canadian National Championships. There is so much happening now. The 2013 foal crop is our finest to date. We have a beautiful new filly by the Bey Ambition son RD Dynamo … his first! We will be breeding him to additional mares this year.”

Bey Ambition offspring are definitely on the move. RD Caprice (x Gysselle by Concensus++++//) is on her way to Australia following her 2013 Scottsdale Reserve Champion Filly AAOTH win. The Las Vegas World Cup Show will enjoy the appearance of three pretty Bey Ambition fillies in the ring. RD Capella (x Madeira El Marwan by Marwan Al Shaqab) is making her show ring debut there before she leaves for a new home in Saudi Arabia; RD Lorella (x San Jose Javiera by Hafati Express) will arrive fresh from her Top Ten (fourth) in the 2013 Scottsdale Signature Stallion Yearling Auction Filly class, and Sam Peacemaker’s beautiful RD Ambilene (x Abilene PCF by Legacy of Fame), third in the 2013 Scottsdale Classic Junior Yearling Halter Fillies, will also appear in Las Vegas.

It all suggests that when you take on horses with “Ambition” you’d better hold on tight and be ready for the ride of your life! Where breeding is not just a journey… It’s an ambition.