Cover image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
When 5-year-old entire Angel Capital (Harry Angel {Ire}) won the G2 Autumn Stakes when resuming as an autumn 3-year-old, he had four wins under his belt for trainer Clinton McDonald and was headed to the G1 Australian Guineas. Yulong saw his potential and paid big for him with the sum rumoured at the time to be $4 million.
They’ve had to show perseverance, but it paid off on Saturday with victory in the G1 Sir Rupert Clarke Stakes.
He didn’t run in that Guineas, and wasn’t seen again until the spring of his 4-year-old season where he won the Listed Chautauqua Stakes for his new trainer Chris Waller. Since then he’s had three Group 1 placings.
“It was certainly a well-deserved Group 1. It looked like it was going to be a suitable race leading in with the track conditions, barrier drawer and the handicap conditions, so it really just came down to luck in the running,” Yulong’s Racing Manager Danny Rolston said.
“He got that and got the deserved win.
“I don't think there's any misconceptions that he's always been a Group 1 level sprinter and now he's got the tag in his race record.”
The Everest is on the cards, again
Angel Capital ran in Yulong’s The Everest slot in 2025, running sixth in the race won by global superstar Ka Ying Rising (NZ) (Shamexpress {NZ}). The crowd thrilling Hong Kong speedster is back for 2026 and perhaps Angel Capital will have another crack at him too.
“We’ll have a meeting tomorrow internally and chat to Chris (Waller) and his team, but the Everest is firmly in the discussion. We're not locking him in right now, as we'll see how he's come through the run and it'll certainly be one of the options on the table,” Rolston said.
“He would be the obvious horse that would warrant putting it in from our own team.”
Danny Rolston | Image courteys of Yulong tud
Angel Capital now has six wins from 18 starts and earnings over $2.9 million.
It was a good day out for Yulong, whose 3-year-old filly Quick Finish (Grunt {NZ}) put herself in the G1 Victoria Oaks picture with a victory at Caulfield over 1800 metres. She now has two wins from three starts.
“She obviously got out over a trip yesterday and had no trouble finding the distance to her liking. She’s got an entry for the VRC Oaks, and all going well, she'll be on that pathway into an Ethereal, leading into the Oaks.”
The perfect Group 1 birthday present
Bred by David Peacock, Angel Capital was purchased for $400,000 by Upper Bloodstock from the Mill Park Stud draft at the 2023 Inglis Premier Yearling Sale.
“At long last!” breeder David Peacock, who was also celebrating his 80th birthday yesterday, told inglis.com.au.
“I was saying my prayers for him and when he got to the home turn I was like ‘C’mon mate, you can do it, you can do it.’ I was screaming at the TV, I was really thrilled because he’s tried so hard to win his Group 1 and I was so proud today, he won so well and they don’t give away Group 1s, they’re bloody hard to win.”
“I was screaming at the TV, I was really thrilled because he’s tried so hard to win his Group 1 and I was so proud today, he won so well and they don’t give away Group 1s, they’re bloody hard to win.” - David Peacok
Angel Capital is one of three Group winners out of the classy Teofilo (Ire) mare Bahamas, who was a winner over 1600 metres and placed in the G1 Australasian Oaks, G3 South Australia Fillies Classic and the Listed Alexandra Stakes.
Angel Capital | Image courtesy of Inglis
He continues a long list of elite graduates from Mill Park Stud in South Australia.
“I think it's 23 Group 1 winners. That's a pretty exciting achievement for us. I hope it keeps rolling on,” Mill Park Stud’s Chris Watson said.
“He was always a bit of a standout from day one. He wasn't your typical, precocious, early goer, but he had a presence about him, a lovely bit of scope and presence to him and was a lovely quality balanced looking athlete.
“He was very well found (at the sales) with a lot of inspections for him and he ended going to a good judge in Upper Bloodstock. He had a presence to him and he was always one that stood out to us.”
It’s a tough pedigree with Angel Capital’s half-brother Berkeley Square (Territories {Ire}) winning ten races including the G2 Moonee Valley Vase and three Listed races, including the Listed Ballarat Cup twice. He ran in the G3 Naturalism Stakes on the same card that Angel Capital was victorious at on Saturday.
Another half-brother Senor Toba (Toronado {Ire}) was a Group 3 winner in both Australia and Hong Kong, and he placed in the G1 Queensland Derby and G1 Champions and Chater Cup.
David Peacock | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
“The colt went to the Inglis Premier Sale in the Mill Park draft – who do a wonderful job with all of my horses - and I was happy to retain him if he didn’t sell for the right price but when he hit $400,000 I was happy to let him go and what a wonderful journey it’s been to watch,” Peacock said.
“We’ve still got the mare (Bahamas). She’s a lovely mare, she just foaled down a lovely City of Troy colt, we’re very pleased with him and this year she’s going back to Harry Angel for the first time since Angel Capital.”
Bahamas in recent times has left a 2-year-old colt named Disraeli (Blue Point {Ire}) and she foaled a City Of Troy (USA) colt in August.
“The mare has always thrown a nice style of horse with a bit of size and scope and leg to them. Berkeley Square is obviously a very big horse and Senor Toba. She’s been an amazing mare for David Peacock and really well-deserved for David to get another Group 1 winner,” Watson said.
“It is an absolute pleasure being able to produce and grow and raise these lovely horses for some great clients in the Peacocks.”
Chris Watson | Image courtesy of Mill Park Stud
This is also the extended family of the G2 Matriarch Stakes winner and Group 1-placed Affair To Remember (Toronado {Ire}) and the three-time Listed winner St Trinians (Black Hawk {GB}).
The Harry Angel sire line providing outcross options
Harry Angel (Ire) is a son of Champion Sire in GB and Ire Dark Angel (Ire) who is a son of Acclamation (GB), best known in this region for Hong Kong-trained world’s highest earner Romantic Warrior (Ire).
“We're very excited to have two top performed sons of Harry Angel with Private Harry and now with Angel Capital set to join the roster one day,” Yulong’s Allison Sedgwick said.
G1 Galaxy Handicap winner Private Harry stands his first season for $27,500 inc GST at Yulong’s Segenhoe farm in the Hunter Valley.
“Private Harry's flying. He’s taken to his new role with gusto, and is going very well in the shed. He has great libido. He’s got his first four mares in foal so obviously his fertility is good, which is a great relief to us all. He's settled in very well here at Segenhoe in the Hunter Valley. He looks a picture. Everyone who comes to see him, says how well he looks, how relaxed he is. So we couldn't be happier with how he has started.”
Private Harry | Image courtesy of The Image Is Everything
Whether Angel Capital eventually retires to the Hunter Valley or Victoria is a decision that Yulong aren’t going to be making anytime soon.
“The appeal of Angel Capital for us is that he’s well related. He’s a half-brother to Senor Toba and Berkeley Square. He’s got a good pedigree behind him and he raced at two, three, four and now five.
“There's longevity there, there's precocity too.” Angel Capital won on debut at two, and ran in two group races to conclude his juvenile season.
“He's a very good looking son of Harry Angel. Obviously, Harry Angel himself started his career at Darley down the road in 2019 and I was fortunate enough to go over to Newmarket and see Harry Angel in 2018 before he came down to Australia.
“He's (Angel Capital) a very good looking son of Harry Angel.” - Allison Sedgwick
“The thing about Harry Angel is that he was just so fast.”
“A winner of the Haydock Sprint Cup, a winner of the Newmarket July Cup, and bred by a very good breeder in Ireland, Paul McCartan who is incredibly astute, and also bred Battash. He’s a fan of Dark Angel who stood at Yeomanstown Stud.”
Harry Angel | Standing at Darley
Dark Angel, now 21, stands for €45,000 (AU$72,500) in 2026. He is the sire of 115 stakes winners, with 17 of those at Group 1 level.
“Dark Angel started off from pretty humble beginnings, with the O'Callaghan family down there. I think his service fee initially was as low as €6000. He was a horse that did incredibly well off a pretty low base. He was very quick 2-year-old, but he only ran at two with nine runs for four wins.
“But he won the Mill Reef stakes, the same race that Harry Angel won and he also won the Middle Park Stakes. He was very fast over that six furlong mark.”
And the speed is being transferred to his sons, grandsons, and hopefully for Yulong to the next generation through Private Harry’s progeny in time.
“It’s a sire line that initially a lot of people in Australia weren't familiar with, but with the exploits of Harry Angel and his progeny, Tom Kitten, Angel Capital, War Machine, Private Harry, it’s being put in the forefront of people’s minds.
“Basil Nolan at Raheen Stud in Queensland, he had Top Ranked who only stood for three seasons before he died, but Basil said he's the most popular stallion he's ever stood. He had speed, Queenslanders love speed and that was the appeal for him up there.”
Dark Angel | Stanidng at Yeomanstown Stud
Top Ranked (Ire), a son of Dark Angel, has 173 live foals with a small third crop thanks to his untimely demise during the 2025 covering season. His first crop are 2-year-olds and 19 of them have been named so far.
Harry Angel is an outcross to Danehill (USA), something Private Harry brings in through his second dam Pilgrim (Danehill {USA}).
“A big selling point for us when we bought Private Harry was looking across Harry Angel’s progeny. Tom Kitten is out of a Street Cry mare, Angel Capital out of a Teofilo mare, War Machine is from a Hussonet mare and Private Harry out of a Congrats mare. You're covering everything there.
“Dark Angel is the same, he's worked with a lot of different mares. Charyn is out of a Kodiak mare and he’s going to Cambridge this year. They’re jumping on the Dark Angel bandwagon. There’s Alflaila at White Robe Lodge too.”
With the hunt for successful sire lines that will match well to the Danehill-heavy broodmares in Australia, Angel Capital looks set to join the rush towards Harry Angel and Dark Angel as a solid speed focused outcross option.
