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Capitol I's offspring have earned well over
2.5 million Euro in Europe, in America and Australia ? at
Championships, World Championships and Olympic Games. At the
Olympic Games in Sydney alone, four of his off-spring
participated. "Capitol has been the best advertisement for
Holstein. He is esteemed for his exceptional jumping traits,
enormous ability and his uncomplicated willingness to perform ?
characteristics that he unconditionally passes on to his
children", is the way Dr. Thomas Nissen, the breeding
director of the Holstein Verband, expresses it.
As practically no other stallion, Capitol I was able to draw
whispers, thunderous applause and astonishment from crowds. He was
always shown free jumping as a climax at the Holstein Verband's
stallion presentation which takes place in February each year.
Capitol passes on his valuable genes through more than 21 approved
sons and 273 registered mares. With a breeding value of 154
points, he stands among the top ten jumper sires in Germany.
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Capitol I is a real rarity in the ranks of
Holsteiner stallions - a showjumping sire, whose name begins with
‘C’ who is not related to Cor de la Bryère! Nor for that
matter, is he related to that other pillar of Holsteiner breeding,
Landgraf.
Indeed, there is quite some speculation as to whether his pedigree
is an accurate reflection of reality!!
There is no doubt on his matrilineal line for he is the product of
one of those legendary mares on which studs are built. In 1960, a
wayward mare, Rappel was saved from the knackery by Rheder Thormählen,
a breeder from a family which had lived on the Kollmaran marsh for
500 years, where they had been involved in the breeding, riding
and selling of horses throughout that time. Rappel who was by
Heinzelmann, had made herself unpopular by jumping out of
paddocks, and was still jumping at the age of 23 when she won an
elementary showjumping class! Herr Thormählen did not know it at
the time but Rappel had an earlier foal, by the influential
Arabian bred, Ramzes, who as Romanus had won the Grand Prix of
Rome with Hans Günter Winkler.
Ten years later, Rappel presented Thormählen with another Ramzes
foal, this time a filly, Vase - who went on to be champion mare of
Holstein. Vase’s full-brother, Roman topped the German
showjumping standings for two years running with Hans-Gunter
Winkler. Vase’s daughter, Folia, by Maximus (himself an Advanced
showjumper), foaled five stallions: Latus I and II (both by
Landgraf), and then Capitol - who was by Capitano out of Retina
(also by Ramzes) who had won the Hamburg Derby with Fritz
Thiedemann in the saddle.
The query as to Capitol’s antecedents has been raised in an
article by Gabrielle Mohmann-Pochhammer (the editor of the German
magazine, St Georg) in an article in Horse International (No 5,
2001)
According to Ms Pochhammer while it is recorded that Capitol’s
sire Capitano, is out of Retina, and by Corporal, this may not be
the case. "On paper the bay Corporal was the sire of Capitano,
but even when the stallion was still alive, doubts about the
pedigree kept surfacing. This was because Capitano was a grey who
dominantly passed on his colour, and is said to have produced only
a few chestnut foals. But homozygous greys usually have two greys
as parents. At the time in question, a young grey stallion,
Vase’s son, Grand Vicar, a brother of Folia, had been frolicking
with Retina in the paddock. If the suspicions, which were never
substantiated by appropriate genetic tests, are true, then Capitol
would be the product of intensive in-breeding, and Ramzes’ blood
would be in his genes via Retina and Vase, and a third time via
his grand-sire. But we will never be sure about that…"
The yearling Capitol I was bought by the Holsteiner Verband, and
he soon established himself as one of the great showjumping sires,
represented internationally by jumpers such as Corso (ridden by
the Swiss, Willi Meliger), JR Number One (exported to the United
States), Caruso Rex, Calle, and most notably of recent times,
Cento, a team gold medallist at the Sydney Games, and who missed
out of an individual medal by just one rail!
Capitol I’s full-brother, Capitol II was initially rejected by
the licensing commission but was approved on the basis of his
performance as a showjumper. In 1993 he presented his first crop
of foals, and most of them were bay - which perhaps adds strength
to the argument about his older brother’s sire not being
Capitano! If further proof was needed, Capitol II is not listed at
all in the WBFSH standing for 2000/2001 (nor for that matter in
the standings for the past 10 years), while his ‘brother’ has
pride of place - number one in the standings with 38 progeny
gaining points!!!> |
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