Capital Felicita has the most international pedigree in the catalogue. Her sire, Quickly de Kreisker, is a well-known Selle Francais jumping sire, and her damsire is Verdi, a Dutch stallion who competed at the very top of the sport and has become a significant breeding influence.

More importantly, her dam performed. Epode de la Rose jumped to 1.45m, and a mare who has been round those tracks herself brings something to a breeding programme that a purely paper pedigree cannot. Her granddam, Ode a Garde, is by the Thoroughbred Night and Day xx, which adds blood, stamina and the kind of rideability that keeps a modern jumping horse performing and recovering across a big track.

At 157cm she is one of the smaller mares in the draft, which makes her a natural match for a scopey, blood stallion, and Henning has chosen accordingly. She is in foal to Capital Voice, our 2021 BWP grey by Pegase van ‘t Ruytershof, a son of Comme Il Faut, one of the most decorated and sought-after jumping stallions of his generation. Pegase’s own dam, Gianthina van ‘t Ruytershof, is by Cartani out of the celebrated Diamanthina van ‘t Ruytershof (full sister of Emerald van ‘t Ruytershof), so the sire line carries balance, blood and rideability. Voice’s dam is Cha Cha Floreval, a Chacco-Blue daughter and one of the most significant mares in Capital Stud’s own history, dam of Capital Moonlight, Capital CornetBlue Floreval Z and Capital Toulouse. Comme Il Faut, Chacco-Blue, Cornet Obolensky and Ratina Z all run through his pedigree. Crossing a French- and Dutch-bred mare whose own dam jumped 1.45m with a stallion of that quality gives a South African breeder something genuinely rare: an outcross foal with elite modern blood on both sides of the pedigree.