Capitol I

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!!!

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.”

left: Carthago Z by Capitol I out of a mare by the Cor de la Bryère son, Calando I - competing with Jos Lansink at the Sydney Olympics

for a fabulous story on Capitol I go to

http://www.horse-flirt.de/capitol/index_en.htm

In the 2007-2008 edition of Monneron (www.monneron.com), the French breeding expert, Bernard le Courtois (check out his website at www.brullemail.com) has compiled a leaderboard of the top 75 jumping stallions in the world, based on the FEI results of the top 2515 jumpers. He 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.
The Capitol son, Carthago is ranked No 2 in the world with 36 winners in 2006. Another son, Cassini I is in 4th place with 29 CSI winners, while Indoctro (also known as C-Indoctro) is 10th with 20 winners. Cento was a great member of the German jumping team but he has also been successful as a sire, coming in at 34th with 9 performers. Interestingly Cassini, Indoctro and Cento, are all out of Caletto II mares.