Capital Stud in clover as talking horse Mister Policeman promotes its new stallion

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Here he speaks to Ger O’Neill about the burgeoning Capital Stud team and its newest recruit - subscribers can get more great insight from Martin every Monday to Friday.

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Willie Mullins’ ringing words of praise for lightly raced youngster Mister Policeman, one of the talking horses of this National Hunt season, have been music to the ears of the team at Capital Stud.

The County Kilkenny operation, run by world champion show jumper Ger O’Neill, recently purchased and imported the much vaunted French-bred five-year-old’s sire Triple Threat.

So Mullins’ appraisal of his first-crop son Mister Policeman, a cosy winner at Cork in April on his debut carrying Rich Ricci’s silks, at a recent press event at Closutton has been helpful to say the least.

“He does fantastic work at home," said the trainer. "He won the race at Cork well, but on his homework I thought he would do it a lot better. He's a horse who I think has huge ability and he will go novice chasing, possibly down the Arkle route.”

Mister Policeman is not the only exciting youngster by Triple Threat, a son of Monsun who was a multiple Pattern winner over nine to ten furlongs in France and the US in his prime, either.

Mister Policeman: exciting sort for Willie Mullins by Triple ThreatCredit: Lorraine O'Sullivan

His first crop of 40 five-year-olds also contains Auteuil black-type winners Rosa Kleb and Sans Bruit, as well as another gelding who is one-from-one for Mullins, Fairyhouse bumper scorer Icare Desbois.

Triple Threat’s second generation, numbering just 24 four-year-olds, includes the classy French-trained pair Jumper Sacre and Pacific One, plus Gary Moore’s promising hurdler Spirit D’Aunou, who won four races on the bounce last season and ran a promising fourth on his reappearance at Cheltenham on Saturday.

There are even fewer three-year-olds by the sire – a mere 17 – and yet four are already winners, including All In You, who scored on debut at Dieppe in August and sold to Guy Petit on behalf of David Maxwell for €230,000 at an Auctav sale last month.

Explaining how the purchase came about, Ger says: “We’re always following stallions, seeing which ones are getting promising winners in Britain and Ireland, and Triple Threat appeared on our radar at the backend of last year but he wasn’t for sale.

“We kept hearing from people about the horse, though. Donnchadh Doyle told us he had two horses by him, one a four-year-old and the other three, and he was really impressed with them, and Harold Kirk was bullish about him, with Willie’s two horses having run once and won. He said we had to do all we could to get him in Ireland ‒ we need him here.

“Walter Connors, who would be very influential in National Hunt breeding in Ireland, has bought foals and mares in foal to him, and the Bleahens are invested in his stock too. Everywhere we looked, people who know what they’re doing better than us were telling us they were very high on him.”

Harold Kirk: bullish about the progeny of Triple ThreatCredit: Laura Green

The Capital Stud team therefore redoubled their efforts to purchase Triple Threat, even though they and apparently other farms had previously been turned down.

“We made enquiries again and, with the help of John Dwan and Nicky Bertran de Balanda, managed to get a deal up and running,” says Ger. “We flew over to France to see him, and were impressed by what we saw, but then we expected to be, as we’d already seen a lot of his stock and liked them.

“We knew we couldn’t leave there without him, and thankfully we managed to negotiate a price.”

French horsemen aren’t unaware of the soaring value of their stock in Britain and Ireland, and there is a thriving domestic market they can sell into, so Triple Threat didn’t come cheap.

“A fair few bigger studs had been trying to buy him, so he cost an awful lot of money,” says Ger. “It’s a hard market to buy in, but we have to try to do it if we want to put our footprint on the National Hunt stallion business, as relative newcomers into it.”

Capital Stud had an interesting new player in the stallion game come in on the purchase of 13-year-old Triple Threat – one of the horse’s many fans in the Irish point-to-point ranks.

“Donnchadh Doyle told us if we were going to buy the horse he’d like to take a share, and the fact that he was so keen to invest gave us a little more confidence to do the deal,” continues Ger.

Followers of the immensely influential Irish point-to-point circuit will be left wondering just how good Donnchadh thinks his two Triple Threats are. The first to be seen in public should be Drop A Threat, a gelding out of the Kendargent mare Lola Drop bought from last year’s Goffs Land Rover Sale for €100,000.

Donnchadh Doyle: "he told us if we were going to buy the horse he’d like to take a share"Credit: Sarah Farnsworth

I couldn’t resist giving the Monbeg maestro a call for his thoughts on the horse. “Drop A Threat's a lovely yoke,” he told me. “He’s doing everything nicely at home, but then he was an expensive store. He should be out next month, all being well.”

Expanding on his entrance into the stallion market, he added: “I’ve been on to Ger about taking a share in one of his horses for a few years now, and when the chance came up with Triple Threat it was easy enough to take the plunge, as I had a couple by him at home who I was very fond of.

“There aren’t many of his progeny on the ground in Ireland but anyone I’ve spoken to who has one seems to like theirs too, so hopefully we should hear a lot more of him in the coming years.

“I’ve been up to Capital Stud a few times to see him and he’s done very well; he's turned inside out since we saw him in France. You wouldn’t know him now – he looks a million dollars.”

Ger confirms that Triple Threat has settled in well, saying: “We’ve had him here for the last six weeks, and he’s in great form. He’s a lovely horse to do anything with.

“He’s very easy on the eye, probably 16.2 hands, and is a particularly good walker, with great power in his hindquarters. Everyone who’s seen him so far has been keen on him.”

Triple Threat stands alongside Capital Stud’s two other jumps sires Mirage Dancer, a strapping son of Frankel who covered more than 200 mares in his second season this year, and Hunting Horn, a welcome son of Camelot who has first yearlings.

“Mirage Dancer really captured breeders’ imaginations this year,” says Ger. “Word got around about his physique and how well he shows himself, and his first foals were very well received too.”

Mirage Dancer: Group 1 winner has proven highly popular at stud so farCredit: Alan Crowhurst

Capital Stud’s band of Flat stallions is doubling next year as Alkumait, who covered an increased book of 121 mares in his second year with the help of his half-brother Chaldean winning the Dewhurst, is being joined by his distant relative the Marble Hill Stakes winner and Middle Park runner-up Castle Star, a son of Starspangledbanner also descended from the Group 3-winning Machiavellian mare Horatia.

“Castle Star was a top two-year-old and Starspangledbanner has been a very impressive sire, getting top-class horses all around the world, so we think he’s a good fit for us,” says Ger. 

“He’s a very attractive horse, with a good walk for a sprinter, and his temperament is great. He’s a nice horse to be around. He should breed those early two-year-olds that the market wants. There’s a limited number of breeding rights in him which are going down well, so it’s a case of all systems go with him.”

Capital Stud – “a syndicate made up of prominent industry figures who have committed to supporting their stallions in the breeding shed and in the sales ring,” according to its website – has also undergone a rebranding, as it was known as Castlefield Stud when it was established in 2020.

“It’s really just to differentiate between the thoroughbred and sport horse sides of the business – we wanted racing to have its own separate identity to make things clearer,” explains Ger.

“We’re still new to the game, only three seasons in, but the feedback from breeders has been positive. We’ve received a lot of support from them and it makes us want to kick on again and keep improving the stallions and the service we provide.”

Castle Star: will join Capital Stud's roster for 2024Credit: Patrick McCann (racingpost.com/photos)

It’s a pleasure to speak to Ger, not just because he is a legend of the show jumping world, but also because – and I hope this isn’t telling tales out of school – he was once a somewhat reluctant spokesman for the newly launched thoroughbred operation, while he was still finding his way around its landscape.

“Three years ago I wouldn’t have been able to hold a conversation with you,” he laughs. “But thanks to staying up until 3am every night reading about pedigrees while my wife was telling me to put the light out and just go to sleep, I’ve caught up a lot.”

He is therefore now more than qualified to give a considered opinion on Mister Policeman. So, putting aside his hopes for the promotion the horse might do for his new stallion acquisition, does he really think he could be the second coming?

“Well, we asked Willie directly what he thought of the horse and he said he’s standing squarely behind him,” comes the unequivocal answer. “He really believes in him. Touch wood he's right.”

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Pedigree pick

Mrs Morrell, who makes her debut for John and Thady Gosden in the six-furlong fillies’ maiden at Newcastle today (4.00), warrants respect just on the basis that she was bought from Tally-Ho Stud for €180,000 from the Arqana August Yearling Sale in May.

But her pedigree also entitles her to run well. She is a Zoustar half-sister to four winners, including Listed-placed two-year-old Lambeth Walk, out of Cockney Dancer, a winning Cockney Rebel half-sister to five black-type performers, headed by Gallagher, who ran second in the Prix Morny, and Roodeye, who became the dam of top-class miler Mohaather.

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