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Mulawa Angelica
Mulawa Angelica AN ANGEL EARNS HER WINGS
04 August 1992 to 31 December 2020
Evolution is a natural, hopefully progressive, occurrence in every breeding programme of significance that has endured for decades. The last two years at Mulawa Arabian Stud have borne witness to this anticipated evolution, the passing of the torch from one generation to the next, as we bid farewell to several of the most influential breeding horses and industry icons within the programme from the last quarter century. Chief sires Fame Maker R, TS Al Malik and GLF Apollo whose careers began at Mulawa in the 1990s have all moved on to greener pastures and on the final day of the most unexpectedly challenging year that was 2020, we also bid adieu to one of the most beloved and esteemed matrons of that same generation: Mulawa Angelica.
Angelica’s arrival at the very beginning of the foaling season in 1992 coincided with Mulawa’s transition from its second decade of existence to its third, a period in which the programme was expanding in earnest beyond the traditional Polish and Crabbet bloodlines that had comprised its solid foundation in the 1970s and 1980s. While the aforementioned, recently departed, chief sires were all essential to this bold expansion of breeding vision, it was mares like Mulawa Angelica that would provide the reliable and proven genetic canvas upon which the newest generations of excellence would be constructed.
A Regal Heritage
An Australian success story of epic proportions, the existence of Mulawa Angelica is one entrenched in the very foundation of Arabian horse activity on the continent. An intertwining of the ambition and efforts of many of Australia’s most successful and influential breeders and horsepeople, her modern-day tale of triumph is firmly established in the continental ideal of creating the authentic Arabian comprised of an abundance of both beauty and utility.
On the distaff side of her distinguished pedigree, Angelica’s origins can be traced directly tail-female to Crabbet Park, to the only daughter of the immortal sire Skowronek (Ibrahim x Jaskolka by Rymnik) ever to be imported to Australia: Nasirieh (x Nisreen by Nureddin II). A foundation mare for Dora Maclean’s seminal Fenwick Stud in Victoria, Nasirieh and her prolific female descendants were ingeniously crossed with generations of either Crabbet-bred or pure Crabbet-related stallions not only at Fenwick, but at the equally essential Ennerdale and Arabian Park Studs, to arrive at Dimity (Banderol x Tamara by Rami), a legendary mare synonymous with Australian Arabian brilliance on the world stage. It would be Dimity’s daughter and granddaughter, Arabian Park Lady Constance (by Ivan) and the intensely-line bred Abanda (by Banderol), respectively, that would establish this invaluable dam line of the desert-bred Dajania or.Ar. at Mulawa in the spring of 1980, as the programme was decisively transitioning from family pastime to serious breeding farm.
It was in the next generation, the first envisioned by the Farrell Family, that genetic variety beyond primarily Crabbet bloodlines was introduced into the direct line of female descendants with the Straight Egyptian sired Vision (by Jamil), a recent in-utero import from Dr. Hans Nagel in Germany. Vision’s dam, the Janow Podlaski-bred Euni (Bandos x Eunice by Comet) would go on to establish herself as an invaluable foundation matron, further elevating Mulawa’s reputation as one of Australia’s leading source of Pure Polish and Polish-related Arabian horses. This infusion of both Pure Polish and Straight Egyptian genetics with the inherent goodness of Abanda’s primarily Crabbet heritage resulted in an exquisite bay filly born in September 1986, elegant and refined, with an aristocratic femininity, exceptional quality of skin, harmonious proportion and natural athletic ability, all attributes predictably indicative of her esteemed hybrid heritage. Prophetically named M Angelique, the “M” designating the stud prefix at the time and the “Angelique” denoting her heavenly phenotype, she would go on to establish one of the most important dam families at Mulawa, creating in the process an entire legion of “Angels”. Nearly thirty-five years later, her resulting “Angel” legacy of descendants has consistently achieved global success as beautiful athletes of world-class calibre eight generationsstrong and counting.
To create the first of her destiny-altering “Angels”, Angelique was bred to an outside sire of pure-Mulawa heritage, the King Estate-bred Wanted KE, sired by Warranty (Aladdinn x Wizja by El Paso) and out of Feature (Vision x Mulawa Fantasy), who was in turn a daughter of the very first Pure Polish Mulawa imports from Lasma Stud in the United States – Ambition (Bask x Bint Ambara by Comet) and Dzina (Buszmen x Dzisna by Naborr) – the pair of horses most responsible for Mulawa’s initial breeding aspirations and direction. Fondly remembered by Greg Farrell as one of his “favourite Australian-bred stallions”, it is Jane who enthusiastically cites her brother’s handling of Wanted KE at the East Coast Championships in his senior stallion triumph as “the best show of his life – a very special night and an unforgettable performance”.
The Mulawa Angelica Legacy | The First Generation
With so many of the Mulawa foundation horses in her pedigree, Mulawa Angelica was destined to become a consequential mare in the breeding programme. Like many of the mares for which the Farrells have the highest hopes, Angelica was first tasked with achievement in the show ring, a responsibility she embraced with enthusiasm and confidence while being honoured with prestigious titles such as East Coast Champion Yearling Filly and National Stud Show Reserve Champion Mare, credentials earned amongst some of the deepest competition in Australian Arabian history. With these accolades now a permanent part of her enduring legacy, Angelica assumed ultimately more important broodmatron duties with greater acclaim, producing ten foals, seven of which were fillies. With this enviable record, Mulawa Angelica has established herself as the most prolific and profoundly influential of all the M Angelique daughters. Multiple generations of Mulawa Angelica descendants now enrich the lives of happy owners and contented breeders in every Australian state, while her most accomplished successors, those with achievements at the most elite competitions across three continents outside our own, are beloved as incalculable and essential treasures within several of the most respected breeding programmes internationally.
Upon reflection, Mulawa Angelica’s breeding career reads like a diary of the chief sire roster at Mulawa. Bred to five different sires over the course of her lifetime, Angelica never failed to produce a quality foal with every sire to which she was mated. Despite her excellent filly to colt ration, Angelica’s first foal was in fact a colt: a tall, superbly conformed, inherently charismatic showstopper named Anthem (by GLF Apollo). A solid, substantial, distinctly masculine bay, Anthem proved to be a major force in the show ring as a yearling, taking championship honours at the East Coast Championships and the National Capital, and finishing runner-up at the Aussies as
M ANGELIQUE WITH GREG FARRELL
National Reserve Champion Yearling Colt. Anthem has since enjoyed a wonderful life with Diane Miller at her Diamond T Stud.
Angelica’s most frequent mate proved to be TS Al Malik, with whom she had four produce in succession between 2000 and 2003. She split the total evenly – two colts and two fillies – with one grey and one chestnut in each pair. The daughters of this mating, after successful careers as young show fillies, both ended up in Queensland. The elder of the two, Australian National Top Ten Yearling Filly Angels Song (2001), became an important broodmare for Brad Strahan’s Burralga Stud. Younger sister Mulawa Ariva (2003), a striking, superbly conformed and powerfully moving liver chestnut, was Australian National Top Ten as well, as a Junior Filly, after winning the East Coast Championships and a National Stud Show Reserve Championship as a yearling. Mulawa Ariva spent her last days as a treasured broodmatron for Rod and Carolyn Strahan at Shardell Arabians.
Mulawa Angelica was also amongst the select group of broodmares bred to Magnum Psyche (Padrons Psyche x A Fancy Miracle) when his frozen semen was first introduced in 2003. Of the four foals produced that first season, Angelica produced the only bay of the superlative quartet – the aptly named Mulawa Dark Angel – who embodied everything one would expect from her esteemed heritage: tall, substantial, superbly conformed and supremely athletic, attributes she faithfully passed on to all five of her Mulawa-bred produce.
Given the successful mating with Magnum Psyche that resulted in Mulawa Dark Angel, Mulawa Angelica was logically bred to his son, Mulawa Chief Sire in residence Magnum Forty Four, resulting in three delightful bay fillies, born successively from 2007 through to 2009 to cap off her stellar breeding career. The eldest of these was Majelica, a tall imposing bay with an abundance of natural athleticism and very similar in overall phenotype to older three-quarter sister Dark Angel. Shown as a halter filly in her youth and earning a Top Ten Yearling Filly title at the Australian National Championships, Majelica later found her true calling as a racehorse, proving once again the versatile athleticism of the M Angelique family across the entire spectrum of equine sport. Now retired from the track, Majelica has become a cornerstone broodmatron in Scott and Fiona Green’s Proride in Far North Queensland. Majelica’s younger full sisters were both given very similar names: Angelic MI (2008) and Very Angelic MI (2009). Angelic, a near replica of her venerated dam, is now proudly owned by Linda Keogh in Armidale, while the very pretty Very Angelic has left an enduring legacy in Queensland.
Despite Mulawa Angelica’s stellar production record and her proclivity to create fillies, it is only fitting that her enduring legacy within the Mulawa programme, and thus far her most influential impact on the Arabian breed worldwide, continues through her eldest daughter, the predictably named Angel Of Fame. A product of the very first Fame Maker R foal crop sired in Australia in 1997, Angel Of Fame would follow in the footsteps of her distinguished dam in the show ring as a yearling filly, earning the East Coast Reserve Championship title in the final year of the millennium.
ALWAYS AN ANGEL
Purposefully designed by adding new genetics from outside the Mulawa programme, a destiny-altering secondgeneration filly, first born to Angel Of Fame was sired by US import SK Shakla Khan (Sanadik El Shaklan x Sun King Raindrop by Hilglor Rainmaker), a stallion Julie Farrell had long admired at Fairview Arabians. Blessed with the celestial name Always An Angel, as to ensure instant recognition of her family heritage, this heavenly vision would first elevate the recognition of her dam family in the show ring as Reserve Champion Yearling Filly at the National Stud Show, the East Coast Championships and Australian National Championships, later earning Senior Champion Mare honours at the Victorian Classic, as well as three Australian National Top Ten titles, one as a Junior Filly and two as a Senior Mare. It was, however, her eventual contribution as a broodmare that would secure her most admirable place of honour in the record books of the Arabian breed.
DA Valentino (Versace x DA Love by Padrons Psyche) would prove a superlative cross for Mulawa Dark Angel, the result of which was the only colt born in the initial Valentino foal crop of 2009 at Mulawa. The formidably named Dark Knight MI, a true testament to the abundant athletic ability inherent in all of the Mulawa Angelica descendants, has proven to be a dominant force as a versatile and archetypal Arabian saddle horse at nearly every major Arabian event in Queensland and New South Wales over the past decade. Most often with owner Katherine Hopkins aboard, Dark Knight has earned an array of the most prestigious continental titles at the East Coast Championships and the Australian National Championships, as well as at the Queensland Horse of the Year Show, with recent successes both in Dressage and halter to add to his astounding list of well-deserved accolades.
Dark Angel’s impressive production record also includes two exceptional siblings by Klass (TS Al Malik x Karmaa by Kaborr). Klassical Desire MI (2016) is a cherished young matron for Nicole and Damien
ALWAYS VALENTINE MI
Henricus at DaMar Arabians, while Archangel MI (2014), an aspiring saddle horse, is currently the purebred mount of choice for the highly accomplished Katharine Farrell, one of Australia’s most respected Dressage riders.
The Mulawa Angelica Legacy | The Third Generation
As Mulawa Angelica’s breeding career was coming to a close near the end of the first decade of the new millennium, the affirmative ascension of her enduring influence was gaining extraordinary momentum with the produce of granddaughter Always An Angel. A perennial favourite of Greg’s, he shares these sentiments about the ever-ascending Always An Angel, “She has become such a great broodmare after her successful show career. It has been wonderful to witness her special nick with DA Valentino, the result of which is three international show winners that have elevated the prestige and awareness of the Mulawa brand around the world. Given her prolificacy to produce both world-class sons and daughters, we expect her long-term impact within the breed, both at home and abroad, to be significant and abiding.” Setting the benchmark as the first of the three record-setting full siblings out of Always An Angel by DA Valentino was the logically named Always Valentine MI. Retaining the characteristic elegance, attitude and structure of her dam, Always Valentine was blessed with the greater scope and size of her sire, as well as with his trademark length of neck and distinct refinement, in a complete package of very North American appeal. Born at Mulawa during the expansion of the programme when both the quality and quantity of horses was on the rise, the decision was made to send Always Valentine to the United States to compete with the best young horses in the breed. This decision put Mulawa firmly on the map as a source of international quality Arabian horses, with Always Valentine enriching her resume with several major achievements in the most competitive global show arena, including the Region 13 Two Year Old Filly Championship, and three Reserve Junior Filly Championships at the most prestigious events on the continent: the Scottsdale All Arabian Horse Show, the Arabian Breeders World Cup and the United States National Championships. This latter trio of titles would initiate Mulawa’s most successful decade of accomplishment on the international stage, a record that would be expanded to Europe and beyond by both of her soon-tobe-as-equally-famous younger full siblings. In a fitting bookend to her trailblazing performance overseas as a junior filly, Always Valentine returned home to compete as a Senior Mare, bringing her special brand of show ring appeal to the highest level of continental competition in Australia, while earning the Senior Mare Championship at four shows in succession in the 2014–2015 show season – the NSW State Titles, the National Stud Show, the East Coast Championships and the Australian National Championships – in an unprecedented, unanimous and undefeated triumph.
Prior to Always Valentine’s record-setting run as a senior mare, her younger full sister, Valentino’s Angel MI (2011), had already set the Australian show ring ablaze with an undefeated season of success as a yearling filly. A gorgeous flaxen-maned filly with an exuberant self-confidence, Valentino’s Angel was more exquisitely refined than her elder sister from the onset, with more
definition and dish to her face, greater length, cleanliness and shape to her neck, a softer European-style femininity and a more dynamically animated trot, essential attributes which contributed to her dazzling debut season as National Stud Show, East Coast and Australian National Champion. Valentino’s Angel would springboard from this local success to international acclaim just months later, now in the ownership of HRH Prince Abdullah bin Fahd Al Saud and his Al Mohamadia Stud, Saudi Arabia, on one of the world’s biggest stages: the All Nations Cup in Aachen, Germany. Having just turned two years old just fifteen days prior to the show, Valentino’s Angel won the first section of two year old fillies while simultaneously achieving the highest score amongst all the junior filly entries, going on to earn the Bronze Junior Filly Championship on the final afternoon of the show.
Since 2013, Valentino’s Angel has gone on to earn major titles at the elite level on three continents. These honours include the first United States and Canadian National Championships earned for a Mulawa-bred competitor, as well as Gold Champion honours at the US Arabian Open in Central Park, a trio of Gold Champion/Best in Show/Highest Scoring accolades at the Elran Cup, the Emerald Trophy and the Bruges International Show, as well as a pair of Bronze Supreme Championships, one as a junior filly and the other as a senior mare, at the Arabian Breeders World Cup in Las Vegas. Valentino’s Angel, who is still ardently competing in the most senior mare division in Europe, is now proudly owned by Helen and Kay Hennekens of Flaxman Arabians in Belgium.
The final contribution to the Always An Angel x DA Valentino golden cross was Vangelis MI, a commanding dark chestnut colt of impressive size and scope, possessing the show ring presence and superlative build of his celebrated sire, coupled with the aristocratic quality and refinement, harmonious balance and effortless athleticism of his acclaimed dam. Blessed with enormous eyes, an astoundingly long, clean, shapely and upright neck, faultless structure and an intense desire to please, Vangelis was an undefeatable superstar in the show ring in his debut season, repeating the successive wins of older sister Valentino’s Angel in the colt division as National Stud Show, East Coast and Australian National Champion Yearling Colt, an Australian first for full siblings. He won each of these titles at the same shows where his elder sister Always Valentine was named Senior Champion Mare in 2014–2015, another first for full siblings, made even more impressive by the fact that each feat was accomplished with a different full sister. Vangelis’ Australian National Champion title was won not only by unanimous decision, but with the highest score of the entire show, a feat he would repeat later in the year at the Australasian Arabian Breeders Showcase, while earning the title of Gold Champion Junior Colt.
The next Gold Championship earned by Vangelis MI was on the other side of the planet, at the 2016 Scottsdale All-Arabian Show, making his debut at the largest and most important of Arabian events on the annual international calendar just five years after older sister Always Valentine MI had set the stage for Mulawa’s expanding success abroad. Competing in the Scottsdale International Breeders Classic Championships, Vangelis scored an impressive 331.5, the highest amongst all the junior colt entries and identical to the score earned just three months earlier at the Australasian Breeders Showcase. His inspiring presentation in the final comparative championship line-up earned Vangelis the prestigious honour of Scottsdale International Breeders Classic Gold Champion Junior Colt by the unanimous consent of five international judges, his most impressive win amongst his celebrated career as a show horse. Vangelis would later go on to earn the US Arabian Open Gold Championship in Central Park and the Bronze Supreme Championship at the Arabian Breeders World Cup, like elder sister Valentino’s Angel MI, as well as the highest continental honours of Australian National Gold Champion Senior Stallion once returned home, now fully on duty as resident chief sire for Mulawa.
While Always An Angel has also produced two champion geldings – Aston MI (by MI Klassique) and Kall MI (by Klass) – it is her son, Author MI (by Allegiance MI), that looks to extend her legacy most profoundly beyond her trio of full siblings by DA Valentino. Already a successful show horse himself as East Coast Reserve Champion
VANGELIS MI
VALENTINO’S ANGEL MI
Two Year Old Colt and Australian National Bronze Champion Junior Colt, Author’s most significant contribution is as chief sire for DaMar Arabians.
The Mulawa Angelica Legacy | The Fourth Generation and Beyond
In the grand tradition of the eldest daughters from the M Angelique Family paving the way for each new generation, it should come as no surprise that Always Valentine MI has proven herself the stellar producer and most significant contributor to Mulawa Angelica’s fourth generation of enduring influence. As her dam proved to be an ideal nick with DA Valentino, Always Valentine has proven to be an equally efficacious cross with resident supersire Allegiance MI (Magnum Forty Four x Audacia by Parkview Audacious), setting the trend for Mulawa’s newest “Golden Cross”. With an impressive eight full siblings to her credit, Always Valentine has already established herself as an Aristocrat Dam of four champions and counting, including Australian National Gold Champion Vain MI (2018), East Coast Reserve Champion Valor MI (2020) and multi-champion halter and saddle athlete Vantage MI (2014). Two of the flamboyant full sisters – Versai MI (2017) and Viva MI (2018) – now reside in Victoria with Nikki Davis and Vicki Lewis, respectively, while a third, Admire MI (2018), has been retained as an eventual replacement for her distinguished dam.
The banner carrier, however, for this generation of aspiring show and breeding stars is eldest sister A Vision MI (2016), a prophetically named, improbably gorgeous chestnut that stands at the pinnacle of Mulawa breeding excellence to date. Her wildly popular wins as East Coast Champion and Australian National Gold Champion Yearling Filly, the latter win by unanimous consent after achieving highest score of the show honours, set the stage for ascendance within the international arena in the ownership of Sheikh Mohammad bin Saud Al Qasimi. Competing close to home for Albidayer Stud in the United Arab Emirates as a young three year old, A Vision earned the Gold Junior Filly Championship in back-to-back captivating performances at both the Sharjah and
Dubai International Shows, the latter a major title show of the highest global prestige. Most poignantly, A Vision was sashed Bronze Champion Junior Filly at the All Nations Cup a few months later. Early in 2021, A Vision blessed
Sheikh Mohammad with the first of her progeny, a stunning chestnut filly named Vision Albidayer, sired by the homebred Wahaj Al Bidayer (Versace x
Baila de Joon OS by Ajman Moniscione).
The Mulawa Angelica legacy is also expanding within the Mulawa programme with the get of Vangelis MI. His initial modest foal crops in 2019 and 2020 have resulted in several promising daughters and sons, with the first of his progeny, Van Halen MI (out of A Love Note MI by Allegiance MI) already achieving in the show ring for owners Nina and Phil Crowhurst. Vangelis appears to be a reliable cross with the daughters of Magnum Forty Four, Allegiance MI and Klass, with the expectation that his daughters will comprise the next aspiring collection of breeding superstars within the broodmare band at Mulawa.
Most remarkably, across five generations from Mulawa Angelica, to Angel Of Fame and Always An Angel, and further through Always Valentine MI to A Vision MI, each of the standard-setting females has been the eldest daughter born to her dam. This fortuitous sequence of events allowed all five generations to exist at one time within the Mulawa programme, with Angel Of Fame and Always An Angel in retirement at BelleVue in Tasmania, Always Valentine MI in residence as a premier broodmatron at Alabama, and the eldest and youngest close to home in Berrilee, Mulawa Angelica fulfilling nanny duties for Mulawa Performance and A Vision MI in show prep with Team Mulawa.
To have lived in the presence of Mulawa Angelica for nearly three decades was a privilege everyone at Mulawa still treasures immeasurably. She was the essential connection of past with present, the critical step forward that has decisively facilitated Mulawa’s modern day success both at home and abroad. Though her physical presence is no longer with us, her spirit endures, still flourishing in the abundantly pleasing phenotypes of her many generations of beloved descendants that enrich the Arabian breed.
Farewell, sweet Angel. You have, most assuredly, earned your heavenly wings…
MULAWA DARK ANGEL MULAWA ANGELICA AND HER GREAT-GREAT GRANDDAUGHTER A VISION MI WITH GREG, JULIE AND JANE. THE MATRIARCH AND THE INGÉNUE, LIVING PROOF OF AN INSPIRING FIVE GENERATIONS OF UNWAVERING COMMITMENT TO THE ARABIAN BREED, AND TO THE BRILLIANT REIMAGINATION OF THE DISTINCTLY AUSTRALIAN FAMILY INITIATED BY M ANGELIQUE.
Author Scott Benjamin Images courtesy of Stuart Vesty
