Knockhouse Stud signs up National Hunt sire Kap Rock for 2021

Kap Rock, a half-brother to the top-class National Hunt sire Kapgarde, is to become the latest French recruit to join Knockhouse Stud.

The Kinsella family's Kilkenny operation has already struck gold recently with Tirwanako, sire of the Leamington Novices' Hurdle winner Adrimel, and they have been keen to add to their roster.

Kap Rock, a 17-year-old son of Video Rock, has been standing for the last few seasons at Haras de la Hetraie and is the sire of some decent horses including Diesel D'Allier, who took one of the Cheltenham cross-country races for France in 2019, recent Plumpton scorer En Coeur and Kim Bailey's promising young chaser Espoir De Romay.

The sire himself won a hurdle at Auteuil for Guillaume Macaire but has largely been in the shadow cast by his sibling, whose progeny includes Clan Des Obeaux and French star Milord Thomas. Their other brother was Geos, dual winner of the old Betfair Hurdle for Nicky Henderson.

Sean Kinsella, who said that Kap Rock will be standing at a fee of €2,000 for this year, reported: "It came through my agent, JD Moore, who said that he could be available to buy. Having brought Tirwanako over, we're keen on the French blood and had been looking around for other stallions over the last 12 months or so.

"He should be arriving in the next few days and hopefully should have the potential to be popular. His half-brother is a top sire and he's a nice looking individual with everything in the right place."

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