Royal Gait (12 April 1983 – 30 December 1992) was a British-bred Thoroughbred racehorse who won at the highest level in both Flat and National Hunt racing.
[4] Royal Gait began his 1988 campaign by beating a field which included Satco and Yaka in the Group Three Prix de Barbeville at Longchamp on 4 April.
[6] On 22 May he attempted to win his second Prix du Cadran, but after appearing to have a good chance of repeating his success of the previous year, he swerved to the left in the closing stages and was beaten half a length by Yaka.
Cash Asmussen took over the ride from Gibert, and the gelding started the 15/2 fourth choice in the betting behind Sadeem, Primitive Rising and Sergeyevich.
At this point, El Conquistador, who had been acting as a pacemaker for Sadeem, dropped back sharply and collided with Royal Gait who was moving up on the rail.
[8] The racecourse stewards held an inquiry into the race, concluded that Asmussen had been responsible for bumping El Conquistador and disqualified Royal Gait.
[8] On his final appearance of the season, Royal Gait was dropped back in distance for the Group Three Prix Maurice de Nieuil over 2500 metres at Saint-Cloud Racecourse in July.
Ridden by Graham McCourt, he hung badly to the left in the closing stages but finished second to the favourite, Travado, who went on to win several major races including the Arkle Challenge Trophy in 1993.
He was restrained in the early stages before moving up to take the lead approaching the final hurdle where he was challenged and headed by the David Elsworth-trained five-year-old Oh So Risky.
In the closing stages, Royal Gait failed to keep a straight course, hanging to the left and then to the right, but he regained the lead and prevailed by half a length and a short head from Oh So Risky and Ruling.
[9] After a break of more than nine months, Royal Gait returned in a handicap hurdle at Leopardstown Racecourse on 30 December in which he was assigned top weight of 168 pounds.