Rich Man’s World is Vaughan Marshall’s latest Captain Al descendant to be a good prospect and he looks to be on his way to superstardom (Picture: Julia Marnewick)
Sarah Whitelaw
Few, if any, trainers were more closely associated with the late, great Captain Al than Vaughan Marshall.
Not only did Vaughan train Captain Al himself, he has also trained numerous sons and daughters of the late champion sire.
From One World, Tap O’ Noth, Hill Fifty Four, and William Longsword, to such notable fillies as All Is Secret, Wheredowego (the dam of the Marshall’s top class galloper Questioning) and The Secret Is Out, Vaughan has conditioned some of the very best Captain Al runners around.
Captain Al himself was an easy horse to train, a great athlete he had a tremendous will to win.
He has passed much of his will to win on to his descendants who, like Captain Al, thrive on their work and have a tremendous desire to win.
The top-class full-sisters All Is Secret and The Secret Is Out (whose multiple graded stakes winning dam Secret Of Victoria was also trained by Vaughan) completed an unusual family double when they won the G1 Allan Robertson Championship in 2012 and 2016 respectively. Vaughan remembers the sisters as being completely different individuals. Whereas All Is Secret is big and strong, her sister takes after Secret Of Victoria as being small, but gutsy.
The Marshall trained Wheredowego led home a Captain Al sired 1-2-3 finish when she won the 2013 G3 Kenilworth Fillies Nursery.
Retired to stud, Wheredowego has produced not only multiple graded stakes winner Questioning but also Listed Settlers Trophy winner Senso Unico.
In 2016 and 2017, the Captain Al sired pair of William Longsword and Tap O’ Noth provided the Marshall with back to back wins in the G1 Cape Guineas (a race Captain Al himself won in 2000).
William Longsword would go on to win The CTS Mile before retiring to Klawervlei Stud, where he has sired the likes of top sprinter Dyce and fellow graded stakes winners Back In Business, Itsrainingwilliam and Rulership.
Champion One World was conditioned by the Marshall stable to win ten of his 14 starts, with One World ending his career on a memorable note when he downed champion Rainbow Bridge to win the 2020 G1 Sun Met.
Retired to Drakenstein Stud, One World was Leading First Season Sire of 2023-2024 and Leading Second Season Sire of 2024-2025.
One World not only provided the Marshall stable with a memorable win in the Met, but he is also the sire of champion One Stripe, whom Vaughan saddled to win both the 2024 G1 Hollywoodbets Cape Guineas and 2025 G1 L’Ormarins King’s Plate.
One World is also the sire of Vaughan’s current star two-year-old Rich Man’s World who is unbeaten in three starts and recently won the G3 Tote Godolphin Barb Stakes by seven and a half lengths.
Vaughan says of One World that the champion stamps his stock, and both One Stripe and Rich Man’s World strongly resemble their outstanding sire.
However, One World was not the first son of Captain Al trained by Vaughan who won the Met.
In 2014, gallant gelding Hill Fifty Four benefitted from a fine front running ride from Anton Marcus to land the J&B Metropolitan by 2014.
In the process, Hill Fifty Four made amends for a runner up finish in the 2013 Met.
