GER O’Neill reports plenty of early interest in Triple Threat, his newest stallion signing at Capital Stud in Bennettsbridge, Co Kilkenny.

Best known in Ireland as the sire of the well-regarded Mister Policeman, Triple Threat is a 13-year-old son of Monsun who has been achieving remarkable results from very small foal numbers in France.

The sire has only had two runners in Ireland – Mister Policeman and Icare Desbois – both trained by Willie Mullins and both undefeated. In France at the major tracks he has a strike-rate of over 50% winners-to-runners and one of his recent winners, All In You, was bought by David Maxwell for €230,000.

O’Neill said: “The horse has arrived in the yard and those who have seen him already were impressed. He’s about 16.3hh, jet black, with a strong hind-quarter, racy and a great walker.”

His covering fee has not yet been set but O’Neill expects the horse will be busy.

Explaining how he and his Capital Bloodstock investors sourced Triple Threat, O’Neill said: “We tried to buy him after Mister Policeman won at Sligo last April but the French stud did not want to sell. It’s more of a trotting stud than a thoroughbred farm, so it is all the more to the horse’s credit that he is getting such good horses from ‘local’ mares. He only had 40, 20 and 15 foals in his first three crops.”

During the summer O’Neill became aware that the astute breeder and producer Walter Connors had mares in foal to Triple Threat and leading point-to-point handler Donnchadh Doyle had bought two stores by the stallion for €100,000 and €65,000.

“They both spoke highly of the horse and Donnchadh expressed an interest in taking a share in the stallion if we got him. Then Willie Mullins told us how much he thought of his two by Triple Threat, so we had to go back to France and try again. By this stage we knew other studs in Ireland and France were sniffing around, so we had to move fast. John Dwan of Ballyreddin Stud and French bloodstock agent Nicky Bertran de Balanda helped us to agree a deal.”

A Group 2 winner for André Fabre and a Grade 2 winner for Bill Mott in the US, Triple Threat will stand alongside Alkumiat, new recruit Castle Star, Hunting Horn and Mirage Star at Capital Stud.

O’Neill added: “Mirage Dancer covered 230 mares this year – the Frankel factor has really helped him. We were lucky to get him before Frankel really proved himself as a sire of sires. His first foals are selling this month.”