Captain Al dies at 20
Captain Of All and Carry On Alice are arguably the best of his progeny so far.
SAVED. Power Grid was due to be put down but Cape Town trainer Andries Steyn agreed to take him and the son of Gimmethegreenlight has now won three of his nine races.
Champion sire Captain Al has died at Klawervlei Stud following a bout of laminitis.
Aged 20, he had been sparingly used as a stallion in recent times due to his advanced age, but news of his demise still came as a shock to the racing world.
I was at Kenilworth the day Captain Al made his racing debut at the end of 1998. There was a lot of talk on course about Vaughan Marshall’s two-year-old being “unbeatable”. He came home like a star in that humble Maiden Juvenile Plate and that stellar quality never left him throughout his life, as both a racehorse and a stallion.
Kenilworth was his home from home, with all four of his graded race wins coming at Cape Town’s flagship course.
He hit his stride as a three-year-old, notching a win in the Grade 3 Matchem Stakes before the undoubted pinnacle of his racing days, a victory in the Grade 1 Cape Guineas on 16 January 2000. Written off by many due to the widest draw of all, “The Captain” showed he had the heart to match his huge ability when fighting off fellow Grade 1 winner Glamour Boy over the final 200m.
He was kept to sprinting as a four-year-old, scoring impressively in both the Diadem Stakes and Matchem Stakes before being retired to stud with a merit rating of 112.
By Al Mufti out of a mare who produced multiple stakes winners, Off To War, Captain Al always looked to have good prospects as a stallion, but it would be fair to say he surpassed almost all expectations.
He always produced precocious types, borne out by the remarkable fact that he was champion sire of two-year-olds an incredible eight years in succession from 2009 to 2016.
Many years of consistently appearing near the top of virtually all meaningful stallion statistics were rewarded at the end of the 2014-15 season when he finally received the richly deserved accolade of Equus Champion Sire.
The list of outstanding progeny is a vast one. Equus champion sprinter and multiple Grade 1 winner Captain Of All retired with a remarkable merit rating of 126, while last year’s Cape Guineas winner William Longsword must have a good chance of being named Equus Champion Three-Year-Old at the end of this season. Of those still racing, recent Gold Challenge winner Captain America is an obvious standout performer.
Just-retired serial Grade 1 winner Carry On Alice was unarguably his best female offspring, with Cape Fillies Guineas winner Captain’s Lover and All Is Secret also deserving of honorable mention.
The death of a stallion often seems to be followed by a big-race win for one of his progeny and it would be fitting if either Search Party or Sergeant Hardy were to win the Grade 1 Mercury Sprint at Greyville tomorrow.
His sons William Longsword and Captain Of All will proudly carry his legacy at Klawervlei Stud. If they turn out half as good as their father they will be well above average.
