2017 mediterranean championships menton · france July 1-2, 2017 Story by Caroline Reid Photos by Isabelle Konst, Bar Hajaj and Caroline Reid
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here better in the world to hold a summer show? The humans get to run in the sand too! The excitement of going to Menton never diminishes. The azure sea, white beaches, terracotta-tiled higgledy-piggledy rooftops up the sides of the mountains, Monaco a few minutes to the west and Italy just to the east … perfection. Top that with relaxing lunches and fun evenings in fabulous beachside restaurants with great company from around the world and of course our passion that unites us, the Arabian horse — in fact some of the best Arabian horses in the world. It’s no coincidence that Christianne Chazel and Dominik Briot run two of the most glamorous highlights of the showing calendar, one in the Mediterranean in summer and then Paris in winter. They know what we love! Where would we rather be? 124 b ARABIAN HORSE WORLD b AUGUST 2017
And thankfully it wasn’t too hot! After the heat wave that had recently hit Europe we were all worried for the horses in their temporary stables, but the oppressive heat backed off and left us with very pleasant sunshine and a gentle breeze. This year’s feature in the center of the arena was a huge Pegasus, as ever made of lemons and oranges, the traditional fruits of the region and a
silver winged Pegasus was the theme elsewhere, as were the colors grey and white, worn by many, the dress code adding to the fun of the occasion. The show didn’t start until Saturday afternoon, so after an early light lunch against a background of sparkling sea, vivid blue skies, and a crisp cool Rosé, we made our way back to the show ground. We were expecting exceptional quality in the yearling classes and weren’t disappointed. Super sires of the moment FA El Rasheem (FA El Shawan x Virtuosa MLR by Versace), RFI Farid (RFI Maktub x RFI Fayara El Shiraz), and SMA Magic One (Psytadel x Majidah Bint Pacha by AS Sinans Pacha) were well represented, as were Wadee and Kahil Al Shaqab. 125 b ARABIAN HORSE WORLD b AUGUST 2017
JAN KAN PHOTO
2017 mediterranean championships
Top left and right: Gold Champion Senior Stallion Wadee Al Shaqab (Marwan al Shaqab x OFW Mishaahl), owned by Al Shaqab Member Qatar Foundation, Qatar, and shown by Giacomo Capacci. See his story on page 97 of this issue. Bottom left: Silver Champion Senior Stallion Excalibur EA (Shanghai EA x Essence Of Marwan EA), owned by Al Saqran Stud, Dubai and Kuwait. Bottom right: Bronze Champion Senior Stallion Van Gogh AM (Magnum Psyche x Ynazia HCF), owned by Asayel Stud, Kuwait, and shown by Frank Spönle.
Sadly we didn’t get to see many of the AJ Mardan (Vervaldee x Felicia RLC by Shael Dream Desert) get as he too seems to be doing a great job. Super-tall from a young age, this stunning colt bred by Ajman Stud divided judges with his height, with some saying it meant that he was actually off-type, yet in other ways he was often one of the typiest colts in his section. However, he’s now proving himself in the breeding barn instead, with some gorgeous youngsters on the ground that have already had much success this season. Winner of the first class was the super bay Sweira Al Jassimya, by the aforementioned SMA Magic One out of Baraka MP. This filly carried herself so well, even gaining a 20 for movement, as well as all 19.5s and one 20 for type, and another 20 for head and neck. Very complete and balanced, Sweira scored highly on all sections to take her class 126 b ARABIAN HORSE WORLD b AUGUST 2017
easily from Dubai Stud’s cute bay Wadee Al Shaqab daughter, D Wasayef, who has the style of her sire but didn’t move as well as her victor. However, this arena is a testing ground for movement — possibly the only minus of this beautiful show is that the going is very hard and some of these babies, in particular, feel it, not only during their classes but after the show too. And surely being hammered in tiny circles doesn’t do them any favors. An FA El Rasheem daughter won the next class for Dubai Stud, D Mumayyazah (out of M Randy by El Shermann); this lovely dark grey has such a soft, feminine face, as is typical of her sire. Second to her was the mature bay Kahil Al Shaqab daughter Haifa ED (x Prestic by Magnum Psyche) belonging to Saudi Arabia’s Alsayed Stud. In the Championship Sweira Al Jassimya (Qatar) again showed with a flourish to take unanimous gold as expected, from D Mumayyazah in silver. However, while we had been waiting to see which of the ‘D’ fillies would be awarded silver, we all suddenly became aware of Haifa ED, who was creating a remarkable pose, for sure the best of the fillies and possibly one of the best of the entire championships. Bless her, she tried her heart out and if gold was awarded on stand-up alone she for sure would have been the winner today; she
looked fantastic and stood out, literally, against all the others in the line-up. As it was, she split the two ‘D’ fillies, earning herself the bronze and pushing D Wasayef down to fourth place. Junior fillies were next — unfortunately in the first class of twoyear-olds only three came forward and D Jawaher (FA El Rasheem x D Noor), a beautiful tall chestnut filly, was a narrow winner from the bigger-moving RFI Farid daughter Kamouneh Al Zobair. However, the second class was one we had been waiting for, with seven forward and some championshipwinning superstars amongst them, resulting in higher scores than the previous class. We had no less than last year’s sublime grey World Champion Yearling, D Ajayeb, plus the gorgeous bay HDM Maria Apal, Paris winner and silver here in 2016; as well as Al Thumama’s super
Wadee daughter Belladonna AT (x Om El Bellatrix) and lovely Loulou Al Nasser. D Ajayeb didn’t disappoint and took the class, but only by half a point and therefore not as easily as some might have expected, with two of the judges placing her second to Belladonna AT, who was indeed her runner up, with HDM Maria Apal next followed by Loulou Al Nasser — meaning that we had three RFI Farid daughters in the top four! The three-year-old class was equally eagerly anticipated, as again we were treated to some fillies that had already won many awards between them, not least Mozn Albidayer and Malikat Al Moluk. Would the extreme and ethereal white Mozn take the win or would Malikat outperform her? Deservedly, Mozn (SMA Magic One x Mattaharii) gained three 20s for head and neck, but today it was Malikat who pipped her, ‘merely’ getting 19.5s for those head and neck marks, but scoring much higher for movement. Yet in the championships, with the judges differing on their favorites, it was Mozn who took gold, out-posing everyone in the stand-up, so white, tall and simply beautiful. This meant that the gorgeous D Ajayeb had been 127 b ARABIAN HORSE WORLD b AUGUST 2017
Top left: Gold Champion Senior Mare Shirin By Aisha (WH Justice x Aisha Bint Missouri), owned by Athbah Stud, Saudi Arabia, and shown by Giacomo Capacci. Top right: Silver Champion Senior Mare Delight’s Divah RB (Ajman Moniscione x Honey’s Delight RB), owned by Alsayed Stud, Saudi Arabia. Left: Bronze Champion Senior Mare Galerida (Shanghai EA x Galilea), owned by Albaydaa Farm, Egypt, and shown by Raphael Curti.
2017 MEDITERRANEAN AND ARAB COUNTRIES ARABIAN HORSE CHAMPIONSHIPS MENTON, FRANCE JULY 1-2, 2017 JUDGES: Helen Hennekens-Van Nes, Belgium; Regis Huet, France; Christian Moschini, Italy; Renata Schibler, Switzerland; Tomasz Tarczynski, Poland CHAMPION SENIOR STALLION GOLD: Wadee Al Shaqab (Marwan al Shaqab x OFW Mishaahl), Al Shaqab Stud, Qatar SILVER: Excalibur EA (Shanghai EA x Essence Of Marwan EA), Al Saqran Stud, Dubai & Kuwait BRONZE: Van Gogh AM (Magnum Psyche x Ynazia HCF), Asayel Stud, Kuwait CHAMPION SENIOR MARE GOLD: Shirin By Aisha (WH Justice x Aisha Bint Missouri), Athbah Stud, Saudi Arabia SILVER: Delight’s Divah RB (Ajman Moniscione x Honey’s Delight RB), Alsayed Stud, Saudi Arabia BRONZE: Galerida (Shanghai EA x Galilea), Albaydaa Farm, Egypt CHAMPION JUNIOR COLT GOLD: Fuerte (Shanghai EA x Frymuszka), Sami bin Mohammed Ben Saad, Saudi Arabia SILVER: Naseem Al Rashediah (Al Adeed Al Shaqab x Nabaweyah Ezzain), Al Rashediah Stud, Bahrain BRONZE: Cyclone OS (RFI Farid x Inspired Najla), Gestüt Osterhof, Germany
2017 mediterranean championships
Above: Gold Champion Junior Colt Fuerte (Shanghai EA x Frymuszka), owned by Sami bin Mohammed Ben Saad, Saudi Arabia. Top right: Silver Champion Junior Colt Naseem Al Rashediah (Al Adeed Al Shaqab x Nabaweyah Ezzain), owned by Al Rashediah Stud, Bahrain, and shown by Giacomo Capacci. Bottom right: Bronze Champion Junior Colt Cyclone OS (RFI Farid x Inspired Najla), owned by Gestüt Osterhof, Germany, and shown by Katrien Vandycke. CHAMPION JUNIOR FILLY GOLD: *Mozn Albidayer (SMA Magic One x Mattaharii), Albidayer Stud, United Arab Emirates SILVER: D Ajayeb (RFI Farid x Ladi Veronika), Dubai Arabian Horse Stud, United Arab Emirates BRONZE: Belladonna AT (Wadee Al Shaqab x Om El Bellatrix), Al Thumama Stud, Qatar CHAMPION YEARLING COLT GOLD: HL El Ganador (HP Shakir TE x Lonco Bay Maria), Hanaya Stud, Switzerland. SILVER: RD Harenaado (Hariry Al Shaqab x DM Endless Romance), Al Saqran Stud, Dubai & Kuwait BRONZE: Perseus OS (AJ Mardan x Jeunesse OS), Albaydaa Farm, Egypt CHAMPION YEARLING FILLY GOLD: Sweira Al Jassimya (SMA Magic One x Baraka MP), Al Jassimya Farm, Qatar SILVER: D Mumayyazah (FA El Rasheem x M Randy), Dubai Arabian Horse Stud, United Arab Emirates BRONZE: Haifa ED (Kahil Al Shaqab x Prestic), Alsayed Stud, Saudi Arabia
beaten for the very first time, although two judges had her as their gold and Belladonna (also getting one gold vote) took bronze, with dear Malikat not having her best day in the championships and ending up fourth. The mare classes also had some big names forward and it was Alsayed Stud’s (Saudi Arabia) exotic chestnut campaigner Delight’s Divah RB who took the four- to seven-year-old class, being awarded five 20s for type and head and neck along the way, plus all 19.5s for movement, thereby ending up an easy winner. Second to her was the fabulous grey Galerida, from Egypt’s Albaydaa Farm. Bred in Michalow, so kind of Polish, but by Shanghai EA out of Galilea by Laheeb, she was one I first saw and fell in love with in Paris last year, but at the time was lacking a little maturity and confidence. This graceful, elegant grey still needs to find her pizzazz, but even so managed a very good score, with all 19.5s and 20s for type and head and neck and in fact one judge pointed her in 128 b ARABIAN HORSE WORLD b AUGUST 2017
first place. Time will tell. Elle Flamenca (Ajman Moniscione x Alla Maria Ma), not showing in her usual flamboyant way, was third and Aja Europa (Aja Justified x HB Marais) fourth, meaning top four in this super special class were all WH Justice granddaughters. Winner of the other mare class was also by WH Justice, Athbah Stud’s (Saudi Arabia) sublime Shirin by Aisha (x Aisha by Missouri). This lovely grey hadn’t been seen in the ring for some years and in fact I last remembered her gaining bronze in Paris in 2011, but boy has she come on. What a mare! Such an obvious gold champion as soon as she came into the arena — to great applause. Shirin is now majestically flea-bitten and simply owned the ring, gaining an incredible twelve 20s! That’s all 20s for type, head and neck, and movement, giving her a whopping score of 94, which in this case was totally deserved. Another grey who oozes class and femininity was second, Al Nasser Stud’s (Qatar) Anood Al Nasser (Ashhal Al Rayyan x Aleysha Al Nasser), also being awarded five 20s along the way. In the championship was standout Shirin all the way. She came in to rapturous applause, not simply from her connections, nor the bought kind of applause, but spontaneous applause that showed appreciation of a truly beautiful Arabian and of course the judges were united in giving her the gold. Less united for silver and bronze, the judges were scattered in awards, with Delight’s Divah RB ending up silver, Galerida bronze and somehow the fabulous Anood Al Nasser, who most expected to get silver, missed out on the medals altogether. On to the colts and here we had
Top left: Gold Champion Junior Filly *Mozn Albidayer (SMA Magic One x Mattaharii), owned by Albidayer Stud, United Arab Emirates. Top right: Silver Champion Junior Filly D Ajayeb (RFI Farid x Ladi Veronika), owned by Dubai Arabian Horse Stud, United Arab Emirates. Below: Bronze Champion Junior Filly Belladonna AT (Wadee Al Shaqab x Om El Bellatrix), owned by Al Thumama Stud, Qatar.
another interesting prospect, HL El Ganador. Interesting because I had heard great things about him, and that he must be pretty special for Nayla Hayek to purchase him for her Hanaya Stud in Switzerland (which was concentrating on straight Egyptians) and interesting because of his “unfashionable” pedigree. Thanks to A.I., E.T., et al., our gene pool had seemingly become a mere puddle and now here was a youngster from Haras Lonco, Chile, by HP Shakir TE and out of Lonco Baby Maria by HP Emir … who? How very exciting! And indeed he is exciting. A stunning dark grey, seemingly with it all — a beautiful face, great body, movement, and charisma. This young chap really showed, which was a feat in itself as he’s already had more than a few airmails under his belt and there’s a fair amount of pressure on him. He won his class easily, pulling five 20s along the way. Albaydaa Farm’s quality bay Perseus OS (AJ Mardan x Jeunesse OS), already known for his strong show results, could only manage a distant second, although moved well enough to earn himself a 20 and three 19.5s. Al Saqran Stud’s smart chestnut RD Harenaado (Hariry al Shaqab x DM Endless Romance) just won the other Yearling class in this section, over Al
Shaqab’s cool chestnut Hagras al Shaqab (Fadi Al Shaqab x Wind Kamelia), Champion at the Qatar International Show earlier this year. So we had another foregone conclusion for gold in the yearling male championship, with a unanimous decision for HL El Ganador. RD Harenaado was awarded silver and Perseus OS bronze. Junior Males were next, sadly not so many forward in the two-year-olds, with only four present, and Gestut Osterhof’s pretty-headed bay Cyclone OS (RFI Farid x Inspired Najla) taking the class fairly easily over Paris winner, the big impressive dark bay Mansour AM (EKS Alihandro x Abha Palma) for Al Mohamadia Stud (KSA). Three-year-olds had more forward and was an exciting class, with some big movers and a lot more testosterone on show. We also had the first appearance of Al Rashediah’s (Bahrain) straight Egyptian colt Naseem Al Rashediah (Al Adeed Al Shaqab x Naba Weyyah Ezzain by Ansata Al Murtajiz) and he certainly didn’t disappoint, a stunning grey, who not only gained some 20s for type and head and neck, and tied first in his class, but also was one of only two in the show to score all 20s for movement! And he shows yet more promise. Another 129 b ARABIAN HORSE WORLD b AUGUST 2017
Tom Schoukens, author Caroline Reid and Glenn Schoukens.
2017 mediterranean championships
Above: Gold Champion Yearling Colt HL El Ganador (HP Shakir TE x Lonco Bay Maria), owned by Hanaya Stud, Switzerland. Top right: Silver Champion Yearling Colt RD Harenaado (Hariry Al Shaqab x DM Endless Romance), owned by Al Saqran Stud, Dubai and Kuwait. Bottom right: Bronze Champion Yearling Colt Perseus OS (AJ Mardan x Jeunesse OS), owned by Albaydaa Farm, Egypt.
to follow. The eventual winner however (higher points for type decided the tie) was the gorgeous Fuerte (Shanghai EA x Frymuszka by Ekstern), bred in Poland by Jan Dobrzynski and now owned by Sami Ben Saad. This super grey always caught the eye as a baby and is certainly on a roll this year, having already won gold in Dubai. He seems to have inherited the best from both parents, of course something we all pray for with our breeding programs, but Mother Nature’s sense of humor often intervening to give us the opposite. Yet lucky Fuerte seems to have the best of both — beauty and form — and scored highly throughout, although it has to be said he wasn’t as bouncy as usual and actually scored the lowest movement marks of the class (still all 19s though) which just shows how well he had scored in all other areas. At championship time it was again Fuerte’s show, with only one judge not choosing him for the gold. Naseem 130 b ARABIAN HORSE WORLD b AUGUST 2017
Al Rashediah was awarded silver and two-year-old winner Cyclone OS grabbed the bronze. Hype, or should I say, promotion, had begun months ago and had reached wellcalculated fever pitch by 2:59 p.m. on Sunday. Barely a day had gone by without an e-blast, Facebook notification, or drone dropping leaflets, photos, and videos into one’s garden (I exaggerate. But someone was very busy.) And it had worked, as by the time the stallion classes started the beach was buzzing, the sand stirring and even the warm blue waves seemed to be dancing more excitably. Boom! Menton’s clash of the titans was about to commence .... And in the four- to seven-yearold stallion class we had: Excalibur EA (Shanghai EA x Essence Of Marwan), bred by Equus Arabians (Spain) and now owned by Al Saqran Stud (UAE/Kuwait). This six-year-old grey arrived unbeaten since his famous win at Aachen, where he made the crazyhigh record-breaking score of 95.33. Gold at Aachen; gold at the World Championships, and gold in Dubai earlier this year and again he scored highly here: six 20s, with one judge giving him 20 each for type, head and neck, and movement, 18.5 for body, and 16.5 for legs, a total of 95 and the highest individual score of the show. So Excalibur scored a hefty, but beatable 93.5 (our darling Shirin By Aisha had scored 94 in her class.) A moredistant-than-he-deserved second was ES Sarab (WH Justice x Mahjesty), bred and owned by Emirates Stud (UAE); different in type to Excalibur, this white, frothy boy is the epitome of a fairy-tale Arabian, perhaps a little less athletic than his victor, but gorgeous nonetheless
and his pedigree ensures he can give a great stand-up. Mention should be also be made of third placed Khaled Al Hamad (Ajman Moniscione x Magnificent PPA), as this smart white stallion was only the second horse of the show to gain all 20s for movement; no mean feat on this surface. And then it was the senior stallion class and goodness knows those horses must be bombproof or deaf by now — the noise they came into was lifting the marquee off the ground. Woe betide anyone in the south of France that afternoon who fancied a post-Perignon nap on the beach — here comes Wadee Al Shaqab! What to say? Also a former World Champion, he came in with all the mane-flying, glossy dark-knight style of a Marwan. He had been prepped to within a hair’s breadth, and he stole the arena. He had champion written all over him, and he knew it. So, Wadee (Marwan Al Shaqab x OFW Mishaal) ended up with a higher score in type (all 20s), head and neck, and body, yet Excalibur in his class had higher marks in the leg and movement sections … Wadee finished on 93.63, Excalibur on 93.5, too close to call on points to know who would be champion at this stage, though most of us could feel this would be Wadee’s show
— including Wadee himself from the way he owned the arena. Ah yes, and second to Wadee was Van Gogh AM (Magnum Psyche x Ynazia HCF), bred by Sally J. Bedeker and owned by Asayel Stud, Kuwait. This stunning dark bay is renowned for his breathtakingly beautiful face — it’s beyond exotic — was arguably the most beautiful here and deserved 25s all day long, yet somehow he didn’t win best head in his class, which was unfortunate. On to the championships — the grand finale. The noise was deafening, the horses performed to their utmost and Wadee was given gold (unanimously), Excalibur EA silver, and Van Gogh AM bronze. Boy, are there going to be some bighitting bay boys in Paris this year .... 131 b ARABIAN HORSE WORLD b AUGUST 2017
Top left and right: Gold Champion Yearling Filly Sweira Al Jassimya (SMA Magic One x Baraka MP), owned by Al Jassimya Farm, Qatar, and shown by Giacomo Cappaci. Bottom left: Silver Champion Yearling Filly D Mumayyazah (FA El Rasheem x M Randy), owned by Dubai Arabian Horse Stud, United Arab Emirates. Bottom right: Bronze Champion Yearling Filly Haifa ED (Kahil Al Shaqab x Prestic), owned by Alsayed Stud, Saudi Arabia, shown by Arthur Nascimento.