RUIDOSO DOWNS, NM—DECEMBER 23, 2013—A fixture in New Mexico racing as a jockey and a trainer for more than five decades, Cliff Lambert will be honored as a member of the 2014 class in the Ruidoso Downs’ Racehorse Hall of Fame.

The induction ceremonies will be held in late June at Ruidoso Downs.

The 2014 class is dedicated to racing in New Mexico. Inductees already announced for 2014 are owners/breeders R. C. “Punch” and Suzanne Jones and trainer Carl Draper. The horse to be honored will be revealed in the near future.

Cliff Lambert will always be the answer to the question: “Who rode the first All American Futurity winner?” Lambert climbed on Galobar on Labor Day in 1959 for the first running of the All American Futurity and they came through to win the dash worth $129,686, which was the largest purse at the time for a quarter horse race.

He had already reached the top tier of jockeys by winning riding titles at Los Alamitos and Bay Meadows in California.

In addition to his All American Futurity win, Lambert counted the Ruidoso Open Futurity (a forerunner of the Rainbow Futurity) and the Ruidoso 550 Championship Stakes among his Ruidoso Downs’ stakes wins.

In 1961, according to records from the American Quarter Horse Association, Lambert scored 45 wins from 126 starts for an impressive 28-percent winners.

Lambert battled weight issues and for years he would train for part of the year and then lose weight to return to the saddle. Eventually, in the 1960s, he turned his total attention to training. He is still training a large stable on the New Mexico circuit and has seen major success, especially with his thoroughbreds. Many of his horses are ridden by his son Casey.

The New Mexico-bred thoroughbred Bold Ego, a member of the Ruidoso Downs Racehorse Hall of Fame, began his training and his career with Lambert and went on to become a prominent horse in the Triple Crown races.

As a two-year-old for Lambert, Bold Ego won his first five starts in New Mexico before racing to a third-place finish in the Hollywood Juvenile Stakes at Hollywood Park. He concluded his freshman season back in New Mexico with a stakes win against state-breds.

Lambert took Bold Ego to Santa Anita to start his three-year-old season. Lambert needed to return to Sunland Park to care for his stable, so owner J. D. Barton and Lambert decided to move Bold Ego to the Jack Van Berg barn. Van Berg took Bold Ego to Oaklawn Park and he won three stakes, capped by the Arkansas Derby. He then joined the Triple Crown series and raced to a game second-place finish behind Pleasant Colony in the Preakness Stakes.

It has been a remarkable ride for more than half a century for Lambert that keeps on going. He exemplifies New Mexico racing as an inductee into the Ruidoso Downs Racehorse Hall of Fame.

For complete Ruidoso Downs’ information, go to www.raceruidoso.com, visit the Ruidoso Downs Race Track and Casino Facebook page and follow the Ruidoso Press Box (@RuiPressBox) on Twitter. There is a page dedicated to the Ruidoso Downs Racehorse Hall of Fame at http://www.raceruidoso.com/hall-of-fame.php.