Picture: The statue of the great Captain Al at Klawervlei Stud.
Klawervlei Stud’s iconic stallion Captain Al was the champion broodmare sire of the 2024/2025 season and that made it the third time in succession he had won the coveted title.
The late son of Al Mufti’s earnings if restricted stakes are excluded was R30,613,293 compared to runner up Trippi’s 26,527,954.
In third place with R23,158,680 was six-time champion stallion Silvano, who is yet to be the champion broodmare sire.
In fourth place on R18,576,153 was the great seven-times champion stallion Jet Master.
Captain Al ended Jet Master’ run of four champion broodmare titles when winning it for the first time in the 2022/2023 season.
In fifth place in 2024/2025 was Var on R16,116,185.
Captain Al’s chief earner for the championship was the highest earning runner of the season, Eight On Eighteen, who will likely be Equus Horse Of The Year. Eight On Eighteen is a colt by Lancaster Bomber colt and is out of the Captain Al mare Sempre Libre. The latter was unraced but is out of the former champion broodmare and matriarch Mystic Spring (Royal Academy), which makes Sempre Libre a half-sister to the like of Equus Champions Bela-Bela and Rabiya and a full-sister to Gr 2 winner Secret Captain and to many other stakes winners and to mothers of stakes winners.
In the 2023/2024 season Captain Al was helped to the title by a horse with the same lines as Eight On Eighteen i.e. the Gr 1 Hollywoodbets Cape Guineas winner of that season, Snow Pilot, is by Lancaster Bomber out of Captain Al’s dual Gr 1-winning mare Snowdance and furthermore Snowdance’s second dam is Mystic Spring.
Drakenstein’s stalwart retired stallion Trippi could well be the champion broodmare sire soon as he produced wonder mare Real Princess, whose son The Real Prince (Gimmethegreenlight) won last season’s Hollywoodbets Durban July and the latter’s full-brother Gimme A Prince romped home in the Gr 1 Splashout Cape Flying Championship, while Real Princess also produced their Gr 3-winning full-sister Gimmie’s Countess. Real Princess is likely to be Equus champion broodmare, which will be another feather in the cap for Trippi.
