News

Captain Ahab Progeny Fly The Flag

With his first WA crop of foals just hitting the track, WA sire Captain Ahab’s progeny are beginning to shine with both the fillies and Colts and Geldings WestSired Finals at Bunbury on Saturday night taken out by Captain Ahab USA foals.

The Gibellini bred Aussie Captain was first to salute in the $30,000 SKT Breaking and Pre-Training 2YO Westsired Colds and Geldings final, running down the leader and favourite in Wild Winds, with two of the three Captain Ahab foals in the race finishing in the top two spots.

Out of the Bettors Delight mare Triga Disco, Cookie Gibellini had said no more breeding, but when he got the call from John Awcock offering him the well-bred mare, he mentioned it to his son and suddenly they were back in the breeding caper.

“Johnny Awcock rang to see if I wanted his mare, and I said I had finished breeding, anyways I told me young bloke and we ended up with a horse, didn’t we.” Gibellini said.

After being broken in by Kim and Toby Thomas as a yearling, Giblellini knew he had something special but only a month after sending him to Donald Harper he received a call that any horse owner dreads.

“He had done about a month at Donalds this prep and then that happened (Colic), and it put him behind a couple of months.

“Donald rang up and said the horse has colic and I said get him to the vet straight away, so he took him to the vet, they performed it, and we got the bill and the horse is alive.

“We had to do it, when he got broken in, Toby Thomas broke him in and said he’s pretty special and might be alright this horse, so we had to do it.”

Aussie Captain was having just his first start in a race, not only collecting the $17,226 in stakes but also pocketing the impressive double westbred bonus in excess of $10,000, as well as a $3000 first win bonus and a further $3000 breeder’s bonus. Aussie Captain was trained and driven by Donald Harper.

The David Simmonds (Jnr) bred and David Simmonds (Snr) owned El Raes Girl took out the Fillies final for trainer/driver Aiden De Campo in the small four horse field at Bunbury.

After starting from barrier four over the 1609m trip, De Campo initially restrained off the arm to settle at the rear of the field, but with just over a lap to go, the pair moved to the breeze to sail away for a comfortable 17.5m winning margin in the $30,000 feature.

Fillies Final winner - El Raes Girl

El Raes Girl made it two in a row with Saturday nights win after making her way to the De Campo stable in late March. “No one wanted her at the sales, we couldn’t get $6000 for her.”

With work commitments and other horses taking up his time, Simmonds made the decision to send both El Raes Girl and Wild Winds to the astute stables of Aiden De Campo, a decision that is paying dividends.

El Raes Girl claimed her maiden win just 11 days prior, with the Simmonds family pocketing over $42,000 in prizemoney in just two starts thanks to Racing WA’s impressive double westbred scheme.

Captain Ahab was imported to Australia in 2021 boasting a small but impressive American resume having just the 11 starts as a two-year-old for nine straight wins.

The reasoning behind his retirement is unclear, but when the opportunity to purchase the budding young stallion arose, the Simmonds family jumped on it and he was soon on a plane over to Western Australia where he stands at stud for $3000, residing at Murray Vets throughout the breeding season in West Coolup.

“Biggest reason we imported him is for the double westbred scheme.” David Simmonds (Jnr) said.

Captain Ahab USA has had an impressive start to his WA career and the Simmonds family is excited to see more of his progeny hit the track throughout 2025

Captain Ahab’s siblings shine in America

25 August, 2022

The family of Captain Ahab (2, 1:50.4), a well performed son of Captaintreacherous and who is standing his second season at Murray Veterinary Services, West Coolup (WA), has been to the forefront in America recently.

Combustion, a two-year-old brother to Captain Ahab, came from second last to win a $30,000 leg of Commonwealth Series in 1:51.2 at The Red Mile in Kentucky.

A $260,000 yearling, Combustion in undefeated in two starts to date.

Fly Like An Angel, a three-year-old half-sister to Captain Ahab, hoisted a fresh lifetime mark of 1:50.8 in winning a division of the Golden Rod Series at The Red Mile. She led for the last three fractions and eventually won by open lengths to complete back-to-back successes.

Aquavella, the dam of Captain Ahab, has the amazing record of having produced six foals for six two-year-old winners.

Futhermore, Captain Ahab’s half-sister Fine Art (2, 1:54.6) ranks as the dam of the two-year-old filly Cultured (by Captaintreacherous), a winner of a Kindergarten Series division in a sharp 1:51 at The Meadowlands. She has won two of her four outings.

Captain Ahab, who was imported to WA by Westbred Pacing, served more than 50 mares in his first season at the stud.

Big fillip for Captain Ahab

The stocks of the young Captaintreacherous horse Captain Ahab (2, 1:50.4), who is standing his first season at Murray Veterinary Services, West Coolup (WA), received a major boost with the results of North American racing and yearling sales recently.

Captain Ahab’s full brother, Captain Picasso, was knocked down for $US260,000, one of the highest prices paid for a colt at the 2021 Lexington Selected Yearling Sale.

At the same sale, a filly by Captaintreacherous out of Fine Art, a 1:54 half-sister to Captain Ahab, fetched $US120,000. Meanwhile, Captain Ahab’s two-year-old half-sister, Fly Like An Angel, won in 1:55 at Harrah’s Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on Sunday (October 24).

Their dam, the Western Ideal mare Acquavella, has produced five foals of racing age and all have been successful as two-year-olds including two with race times inside 1:50.

Captain Ahab, who has already received solid support from breeders, won nine races on end as a two-year-old including the $70,000 Nassagaweya Stake, the $53,000 Champlain Stake and an elimination of the $680,000 Metro Pace. He twice defeated the 2018 USA 2YO Pacing Colt of the Year Captain Crunch 1:47.4 ($1.5 million).

Captain Ahab to stand stud in Western Australia

By Peter Wharton

Captain Ahab (2, 1:50.4), the first son of former champion pacer Captaintreacherous, the leading sire of two and three-year-olds in North America, imported to Western Australia, will stand this season at Murray Veterinary Services, West Coolup, one hour south of Perth.

He stood at the prestige Pin Oak Lane stud in Pennsylvania for the past two years where his first crop are very impressive foals.

Captain Ahab, foaled in 2016, had 11 starts as a two-year-old (including qualifiers) for nine straight wins. He commenced his racetrack career winning two legs of the Kindergarten Classic at The Meadowlands in 1:51.2 (last 400 in 25.3) and 1:52.4.

He then won a heat and final of the Dream Maker Classic in 1:51.2 and 1:52.8 and a fortnight later the $70,938 Nassagaweya Stake in 1:51.8, both at Woodbine Mohawk Park, Canada.

Captain Ahab twice defeated the 2018 USA 2YO Colt of the Year Captain Crunch at his next two starts, firstly in the $53,982 Champlain Stake in 1:52.6 and then an elimination for the $680,000 Metro Pace, in which he took his lifetime mark of 1:50.4.

He was only sparingly raced thereafter and finished up with a stake tally of $143,309 – an excellent total from a brief career.

Hall of Fame horseman Tony Alagna, who trained Captain Ahab and his sire Captaintreacherous, said: “I see a lot of Captaintreacherous in him. His characteristics, the way he is so easy on himself, the way he lets you drive him...his work ethic. He reminds me a lot of ‘Captain’ and hopefully he can keep reminding me of ‘Captain’’’.

An upstanding bay horse of 16 hands, Captain Ahab is a most interestingly bred horse. A $100,000 Lexington Selected Yearling Sale purchase, he is a son of former champion Captaintreacherous 1:47.2 ($3.1 million), one of the greatest of a string of champions left by the champion American sire Somebeachsomewhere (1:46.8). Sons of Somebeachsomewhere are now coming to the forefront as sires in both America and Australia.

On his dam’s side, Captain Ahab belongs to a family which has made a real impact on the American breeding scene. He is out of the Western Ideal mare Acquavella (1:53.6), a sister to the Metro Pace winner and USA 2YO Colt of the Year Artspeak 1:47.4 ($1.6 million), now siring winners in America.

Captain Ahab ranks as a half-brother to the Saratoga Raceway two-year-old track record holder and Reynolds Memorial winner Heart Of Mine 1:53.4 ($204,631).

Captain Ahab, who represents the famed male line of Direct Scooter (grandsire of great sires in Mach Three and Christian Cullen) and coming from the prolific family of Bird Mitchell (ancestress of Southwind Lynx, Ultra Jet and Stand Forever) with strains of Western Ideal, Artsplace, Matt’s Scooter, Jate Lobell and Abercrombie – all champion sires and broodmare sires - has a second-to-none blood inheritance. His service fee is $3,000 including GST with his progeny Double Westbred eligible.

New York Sire Stakes division to Heart Of Mine

The definite star of the entire filly division for the New York Sire Stakes was Captain Ahab’s half-sister Heart Of Mine (Roll With Joe-Aquavella) who claimed her eighth win of the year in the easiest of fashion at Batavia Downs on July 28.

Scotty Zeron left and floated his way to the lead in :28.2 and cleared just past that station. With no opposition from there, he backed down the half to :58.1 and the race was basically over at that point.

Heart Of Mine continued on the second circuit and maintained a 1-¾ length lead up the backstretch, around the last turn and heading into the stretch where she extended it to almost three. Down the lane Zeron had Heart Of Mine wrapped up and pacing with authority to win in 1:53.4 at the beam.

“She’s pretty nice. She’s extremely professional out there so she can position herself, good gaited so she gets around the turns well and she’s so easy to drive. She’s doing it pretty easy right now and she’s not breaking a sweat so we’ll see how she is going forward,” said Zeron.

Hall of Famer Linda Toscano trains Heart Of Mine ($2.40) for owners The Bay’s Stable, Radio Racing Stable, Fred Wallace and the Camelot Stable. The filly now has $176,916 made this year and went to $308,331 lifetime in only 20 starts.