1975 – 1999 169 cm Grey

Breeder: Harm Thörmalen

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 who 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. Capital was by Capitano who is by Corporal out of Retina (also by Ramzes). Retina won the Hamburg Derby with Fritz Thiedemann in the saddle.

 Capitano, sire of Capitol but who was his sire?

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).

 Retina, the dam of Capitano

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…”

Capitol is richly endowed with the heritage of two great Thoroughbred descendants of the Bay Ronald line – Cottage Son xx and Manometer xx.

In The Holsteiner Horse, Capitol is described thus:

‘Distinctive sire with plenty of stallion expression, yet lacking the final touch of charm. Large head, mighty neck with strong jowls. Top-line not ideal. Good legs with pronounced joints, but slight flaws in the transition of the joint. Relaxed, elastic gaits; enormous jumping ability.”

The yearling Capitol I was bought by the Holsteiner Verband. Although he was not able to really show himself at the licensing because in those days, there was no free jumping, a few weeks later he was presented over fences in the indoor school at Elmshorn, and there was immediately a queue of breeders wanting to use him at the Langenhagen station. Although his progeny were all good jumpers, some were too big and heavy and there was less enthusiasm for the stallion.

Capitol was moved to Wellinghausen in 1984 and used over mares that descended from Lord, Sacramento Song xx and Caletto II – it was with Caletto II that he produced some of his most successful sons – Cassini I and II and Cento.

Cento – a star with Otto Becker

His first crop produced Corso, who ridden by the Swiss, Willi Melliger, won many Grand Prix and speed classes, and competed at the European championships in St Gallen in 1987, the World Cup final in Gothenburg in 1988, the Nations Cup at Aachen and the European Championships in Rotterdam. Suddenly his offspring were in huge demand and setting record prices.

Three of his important sons were then licensed for Holstein: Carthago (1987), Cassini I (1988) and Cento (1989). Indoctro was licensed in Holland in 1990 and spread the blood of Capitol to that country.

Following the success of his progeny, Capitol moved to 2^nd on the WBFSH standings in 1999, and to first place in 2000 and 2001. At the Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000, his was represented by three horses, Carthago, Campione M and Cento. At the Athens Games, he was represented by four: Cardento, Casita, Cento and Goliath. Up to 2007, his offspring has won over €5.3 million. There are 34 of his stallion sons world-wide and 25 in Holstein alone, and they have proven wonderful sires in their own right.

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 but he failed to follow his brother’s footsteps and left nothing of interest.

According to Harm Thormälen, whose family bred Capitol:

“The Capitol horses have scope – scope and easy to handle. Amateurs can ride the Capitol horses. Sometimes they are not ‘blood’ enough, they need blood. In his last years Capitol was only allowed to breed to mares with Thoroughbred blood. The mare sire had to be Thoroughbred, or otherwise Cor de la Bryère – so Capitol got very good mares. It was top management by the Holsteiner Verband, with very good results in the sport. The children of Capitol have won the most money in the sport of any stallion in the world.”

In the 2007-2008 Monneron leaderboard of the top 75 jumping stallions in the world, based on the FEI results of the top 2515 jumpers, Bernard le Courtois finds four major stallion lines: Almé, Cor de la Bryère, Landgraf and Capitol I. Capitol ranks 37th with 8 winners. His best performer is the mare, Gitania – but five of his stallion sons feature in the top 75.

12th on the German rankings, Carthago 

On the 2013 German FN list of the top 1% of jumping sires, Capitol is represented by three sons: Carthago (12^th), Cardento (18^th) and Cassini I (28^th).

Examining the breeding at the WEG in Caen, what did come as a bit of a shock was the influence of the somewhat unfashionable Capitol. The most represented Capitol line stallion was his son Cardento with six, but then there was Indoctro with four (three of them ridden by less than professional riders), Cassini I provided three, then there are two by Cento, one each for Canadian River and Centauer, two by Capitol’s grandson, Cumano, one by another grand-son, Colman and one by Capitol himself.

Capitol’s representative in Normandy – Imothep and Darragh Kenny 

We tend to think of Capitols as being big and scopey, slightly old fashioned and perhaps not the horses we need for modern sport but it would seem that they are still represented at the highest levels of the sport…