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 rung 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.
Fillies Final winner - El Raes Girl
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.
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
Image: Aussie Captain. Photography by Jodie Hallows