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o read a magazine, you have to open the cover, which, in this case, features a handsome young stallion named Hariry Al Shaqab. Only five years old, he is a rising star of the international Arabian show scene, Scottsdale Senior Champion Stallion this year, and ready to conquer the world. So, let’s take a look inside the covers of this month’s cover boy, and see what we can find below the surface. And that’s quite a lot, taking us right back to the very beginnings of Arabian horse breeding both in the U.S. and in Western Europe. Like two of the stallions we have already looked at, EKS Alihandro and Kahil Al Shaqab, Hariry is a son of the great Marwan Al Shaqab. Unlike his half brothers, however, he is not a typical Marwan son. Most obviously, he lacks the trademark rich bay Marwan coat, being grey instead. This is due to his dam, the aptly named White Silkk, who is a grey from two grey parents and whose influence on her son is immediately obvious. She is a daughter of Dakar El Jamaal, another atypical son of a well-known sire. By Ali Jamaal, Dakar clearly takes both color and type from his dam, Canadian National Champion Mare Sonoma Lady, who comes from a background of strong Polish/Crabbet breeding, her two grandsires being the pure Polish, grey stallions *Karadjordje and *Kirkor. In other words, the perfect match for a “type” sire like Ali Jamaal.
Looking further down the dam line, the mares are themselves not well-known, but again by strong sires. White Silkk’s dam, KH First Prize, is by Echo Magnifficoo, a grandson of both *Aladdinn and AN Magno, and, phenotypically speaking, a striking blend of both. The grey color, however, is due to First Prize’s dam, who was by the straight Egyptian stallion El Hilal (*Ansata Ibn Halima x *Bint Nefisaa). Though he has since been eclipsed by Ansata Halim Shah, El Hilal was for many years the most successful *Ansata Ibn Halima son in terms of show winners, for several years even one of the Top Ten living sires of winners in the world. In addition, he excelled at siring superior broodmares and is more likely to appear in modern pedigrees through his daughters, rather than through his sons. With Sweet Srrender’s dam Esperanzo Mara, foaled in 1963, we enter the territory of old American breeding. She was born just before the first major wave of imports from Egypt and
Facing page and right: Hariry Al Shaqab (Marwan Al Shaqab x White Silkk).
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Poland, when most U.S. Arabians represented a mix of mostly Davenport and Crabbet lines. While there is often little early Polish and/or Egyptian blood thrown in, it is hardly more than a bit of added spice. Back then, those lines were regarded as part of the overall Arabian blood pool, not as fashionable and/or ends in themselves. Following the stream of imports that began in the mid-1960s, when it became fashionable to breed “pure Polish”
RUMINAJA ALI G Russell and Mildred Jameson 1976 ANAZA EL FARID B Lester and Lois St. Clair 1988 BINT DEENAA B Lester and Lois St. Clair 1979 GAZAL AL SHAQAB B Al Shaqab 1995 KABORR G Tom Chauncey Arabians 1970 KAJORA B Tom Chauncey Arabians 1979 *EDJORA G Rolf Axelsson 1968 *MARWAN AL SHAQAB B Al Shaqab 2000 BEY SHAH B Lester and Jennie Walton 1976 FAME VF B Robert and Patricia Radmacher 1982 RAFFOLETA-ROSE B Louie and Mary Lou Johnson 1971 LITTLE LIZA FAME B Horseshoe Lake Farm 1987 AZA DESTINY B D&S Stables 1971 KATAHZA B Dr. C. Gordon and Madeline Edgren 1981 AFHAR RAHZA G Charles Chapman/Otis Orchards 1969
or “straight Egyptian,” the old bloodlines became known as “domestic,” and the term was occasionally used in a slightly derogatory manner, as opposed to the new and modern, or, as we would put it today, “exotic.” This is pretty much an automatic process. Those modern lines of yesteryear, are, in turn, now regarded as old-fashioned themselves. As for the even older “domestic” background, it is practically forgotten or, at least, not given any attention. This is wrong on so many levels. To use an analogy: if you build a house, you don’t just set up a few pretty walls and top them with an even prettier roof. If you want the structure to hold, you have to build a foundation for those pretty walls, otherwise they’ll collapse when the first storm hits. The so-called “domestic” lines are the foundation of modern breeding. They are the backbone of any country’s Arabian population, whether it’s the Slawuta mares in Poland, the horses of Crabbet Park in Britain, or those of Weil-Marbach in Germany. If they hadn’t been there first, there’d have been nothing to build
HARIRY AL SHAQAB Stallion foaled 2010 Bred by Al Shaqab Doha, Qatar
RUMINAJA ALI G Russell and Mildred Jameson 1976 ALI JAMAAL B James Bergren 1982 HERITAGE MEMORY B Heritage Hills Arabians 1971 DAKAR EL JAMAAL G Lenita Perroy 1996 KJ JORDGEE BOY G John M. Rogers 1970 *SONOMA LADY G Vajander SA 1981 BRANDIE G Shirley A. Wilson 1972
ALADDINN ECHO B Dr. L.E. Gallett 1980 ECHO MAGNIFFICOO C Ford Arabians 1988 S S MAGNOLIA C Everett D. Shea, Jr. 1982 KH FIRST PRIZE G Kent and Audrey Herron 1994 EL HILAL G Douglas B. Marshall 1966 SWEET SRRENDER G Kent and Audrey Herron 1982 ESPERANZO MARA B Raymond A. and F. Jane Davis 1963
B. FINKE PHOTO
WHITE SILKK G Doug Dahmen 2003
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top and left: White Silkk (Dakar El Jamaal x KH First Prize), dam of Hariry Al Shaqab, who is a grey from two grey parents and whose influence on her son is immediately obvious.
Top left: The straight Egyptian stallion El Hilal, (*Ansata Ibn Halima x *Bint Nefisaa) excelled at siring superior broodmares. Top right: Echo Magnifficoo (Aladdinn Echo X SS Magnolia) is a grandson of both *Aladdinn and AN Magno and the sire of KH First prize, dam of White Silkk.
on, just imports crossed with imports and nothing to provide the background that makes those horses unique. In this case, uniquely American, because what we have here, in the background of thoroughly modern Hariry Al Shaqab, is a big, rock-solid early American foundation. Esperanzo Mara, Hariry’s fourth dam, was sired by Esperanzo, a stallion of almost entirely Crabbet breeding. The “almost” is due to the presence of *Nejdme DB — incidentally, No.1 in the American Registry — and to the dam line of his sire, Rafhar. Rafhar was out of a mare called Rafadin, and, as it turns out, this same Rafadin is also Esperanzo Mara’s second dam through her daughter Rafmara. In fact, Esperanzo Mara’s parents were quite closely related to each other.
Both of them have close-up crosses to two pure Crabbet stallions, Rifage and Katar. Even more significantly, Esperanzo Mara’s second dam Rafadin was also the dam of her maternal grandsire Rafhar. Rafadin was by the already mentioned Crabbet stallion Rifage, a son of *Rifala, who was even more famous as the dam of *Raffles. Back then, *Raffles was immensely popular and a target of heavy inbreeding, but there’s no *Raffles here anywhere, with two crosses to his half brother Rifage instead. Rifage was by *Mirage, who counts as Crabbet, since that is where he came from; but he was a desertbred and never actually used at Crabbet Park. Consequently his blood is found only in the U.S., where it has been very influential. Rafadin’s dam Alidin was by another pure
Bottom left: Esperanzo (Rafar x Rimisha), the sire of Esperanzo Mara, was a stallion almost entirely of Crabbet breeding. Bottom right: the pure Crabbet Stallion Rifage (*Mirage x *Rifala).
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Top: Leila (El Jafil x Narkeesa) was one of the foundation mares of the Kellogg Ranch. Bottom: *Leopard DB was Seglawi bred by the Anazeh Bedouins, and sired just one purebred foal, the stallion Anazeh who was out of *Naomi.
Crabbet stallion, *Ferdin, out of a mare called Alilatt, and here we enter different territory. Alilatt was by Saraband, a stallion of Davenport/Hamidie breeding. The Davenport and Hamidie Society imports were the two major importations to the U.S. directly from the desert. Of Saraband’s four grandparents, three were bred in the desert, and the fourth was the daughter of desertbred parents. Alilatt’s dam was Leila, one of the foundation mares of the Kellogg Ranch, but Alilatt was her first and only foal not bred by W. K. Kellogg. She was also Leila’s only daughter to breed on. Leila’s sire El Jafil was a son of the Crabbet stallion *Ibn Mahruss, but the remaining three quarters of her pedigree are composed of lines which, though in some cases coming via England, are uniquely American. Leila’s dam Narkeesa was by Anazeh, an interesting individual for several reasons. Foaled in 1890, Anazeh was the first American-bred Arabian to be registered by the AHRA. In turn, his sire *Leopard DB was the first imported Arabian to be registered by the AHRA, and his is the earliest American Arabian line to have survived to the present day — through just a single foal, namely Anazeh. *Leopard also had some unique historical connections in that he was owned, and in fact imported, by General Ulysses S. Grant. Following his tenure as 18th president of the United States, General Grant traveled to Turkey, where he was a guest of Sultan Abdul Hamid II. In the Royal Stables, the Sultan kept “Arabian horses, scores of them, with pedigrees antedating Mohammed, if
Haidee ch. 1869 desertbred, Maneghi Hadruj, imp. to England by Major Robert Upton *Naomi ch. 1877 (Yataghan DB) Sandeman/GB, imp. USA in 1888 Narkeesa ch. 1897 (Anazeh) Randolph Huntington Leila ch. 1917 (El Jafil) S. C. Thomson Alilatt b. 1927 (Saraband) Betty Basset Alidin b. 1937 (*Ferdin) Sunical Land & Livestock Dpt. Rafadin gr. 1944 (Rifage) Van Vleet Arabian Stud Rafmara gr. 1951 (Markal) Raymond A. Davis Esperanzo Mara b. 1963 (Esperanzo) Raymond A. Davis Sweet Srrender gr. 1982 (El Hilal) K. & A. Herron KH First Prize gr. 1994 (Echo Magnifficoo) K. & A. Herron White Silkk gr. 2003 (Dakar El Jamaal) Doug Dahmen HARIRY AL SHAQAB gr. 2010 (Marwan Al Shaqab) Al Shaqab
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one is to credit the high Turkish official who acted as our escort,” according to the memoirs of the General’s son, Jesse, who accompanied his father on the trip. The Grants were impressed by the horses and the General was presented with two grey stallions as a gift, *Leopard and *Linden Tree. The latter is now believed by some to have been a Barb, not an Arabian. Both were registered as Arabians by the AHRA, but since *Linden Tree never had any registered foals, the question of his breed is irrevelant. *Leopard, who was a Seglawi bred by the Anazeh Bedouins, sired just one purebred foal, the stallion Anazeh. Anazeh was out of *Naomi, and the same *Naomi is also the dam of Narkeesa, who was thus closely inbred. *Naomi was unusual in that she was bred in England, from two desertbred parents, but had nothing to do with Crabbet Park. In fact, her birth in 1877 predates the founding of the Crabbet Stud by a whole year! Early English breeding is usually equated with Crabbet Park, but in actual fact there were several desertbred imports to England before the Blunts, including *Naomi’s parents, Yataghan and Haidee. Both horses were acquired in the desert by James Henry Skene, the British Consul at Aleppo, for the Hon. Albert G. Sandeman, a member of the British parliament who wished to purchase desertbred Arabians. Skene, who spoke Arabic and knew his way around, would also acquire the first horses for the Blunts a little while later. Mr. Sandeman’s horses were registered in the General
Stud Book, which was for Thoroughbreds, as there was no Arabian stud book — and indeed, no Arabian breeding — in Britain at the time. Yataghan and Haidee thus were among the first Arabians ever registered in Britain, actually predating Crabbet Park. Haidee was a chestnut mare foaled in 1869, of the Maneghi Hadruj strain, bred by Sheikh Suleiman Ibn Mirshid of the Gomussa. Her family is the only source of this strain in modern breeding. Yataghan was also bred by Sheikh Suleiman, but was a Kehailan by strain. Their blood did not survive in Britain, but it did continue in the United States through *Naomi, their only registered offspring, as Haidee never had another foal and died at only eight years old. *Naomi changed hands in 1881, aged four, when Mr. Sandeman disbanded his small breeding program and sold her to the Reverend Francis Furze Vidal, who bred four foals from her. She was also used as a hunter by the Reverend and was apparently an excellent cross-country horse. At one point, *Naomi very nearly went to Crabbet Park in exchange for another mare. Wilfrid Blunt had expressed interest in such a transaction, but in the end, it never happened. Meanwhile, in the U.S., Randolph Huntington had acquired General Grant’s stallion *Leopard and was looking for a mare to breed to him. At this point, there were no purebred Arabian mares in America at all, and if you didn’t want to travel to the desert, the best place to find them was England. In 1888, Randolph Huntington imported *Naomi, and five years later her daughter *Nazli (by Maidan DB), her son *Nimr (by Kismet DB), and her grandson *Garaveen (Kismet DB x Kushdil). All of them were important early American foundation horses. *Naomi had in the meantime produced Anazeh, by *Leopard, who in turn covered his own dam, resulting in two full sisters, Narkeesa and Naressa. Naressa never had any registered foals, but Narkeesa became *Naomi’s most significant U.S.-bred daughter. Thus *Naomi’s family, though now lost in Britain, became a strong early force in American breeding and has survived to the present day. With representatives like Hariry Al Shaqab, it should remain a force to be reckoned with in the future, as well.
Naomi (Yataghan x Haidee), bred in England from two desertbred parents and imported to the U.S. by Randolph Huntington to breed to his stallion *Leopard DB.
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