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| By Emma Maxwell | Part 2 |
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In the title: The stallion Ruminaja Ali (Shaikh Al Badi x Bint Magidaa) |
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| Hadban The Hadban strain is recorded as slightly heavier than the Saqlawi and more angular than Kuhailan, a combination which does not initially sound that attractive, as described by Carl Raswan. However, it proves to be the linch pin behind the unusually high number of good sires within Egyptian bloodlines. |
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| There is no Hadban Enzahi strain in the
mare lines of England, Spain, Poland or Russia – Egypt is the only source. And yet a quick "recce" of the stallions produced by the numerically small family says it all: In Egypt Nazeer, Ibn Rabdan, Amir Al Badeia; in America The Minstril, Thee Desperado; in Germany Shaker El Masri, Hadban Enzahi, Ibn Galal; in Morocco El Sud El Aaly and in Russia Aswan. Britain has had only two, Shakhs (Morafic x Shiaa) and the recently arrived Simeon Sadik (Asfour x Simeon Safanad). Notably, one canny breeder Marion Richmond has made her stud on the Hadbah mare 27 Ibn Galal-5 (Ibn Galal x Hosna) from Hungary, who has produced her Australian National Champion Mare Simeon Safanad (by Sankt George), dam of the US National Champion Simeon Shai (by Ra'adin Royal Star), and of course Halsdon's World Reserve Champion Simeon Sadik. Imperial Egyptian Stud also made a good move buying the Hadbah mare Malekat El Gamal (Kayed x Nagdia) from Egypt's Albadeia Stud. |
27 Ibn Galal-5 (Ibn Galal x Hosna) |
| Her granddaughter Sundar
Alisayyah (Ruminaja Ali x Imperial Sayyah), exported to Qatar, has produced the Middle
East and Qatar Champion Mare Kamassayah (by Imperial Al Kamar), as well as heir apparent
to Ansata Halim Shah, Al Adeed Al Shaqab. The Hadban strain also predominates in the Albadeia stud, probably the best stud in Egypt at the moment, through Zahia (Sid Abouhom x Samha). The head stallion here, Farid Al Badeia (Amir Albadeia x Farida) is from her family, as is the superstar mare Ibtehag Albadeia (Badran Albadeia x Halawat Albadeia), the 1997 Egyptian Champion Mare. |
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Kasr El Nile (Tuhotmos x Bint El Nil) |
Aswan's full sister Shahrzada (Nazeer x
Yosreia) also produced the two lovely mares, Serenity Sabra (by Sameh) and Serenity Shahra
(by Anter) exported to Canada (and eventually incorporated to the Imperial broodmare band)
where their stock has percolated back throughout the world. In fact, my favourite mare of
the very many gorgeous mares at Al Shaqab in Qatar was the Shahra daughter Imperial Shahra
(by Ansata Imperial). Shahrzada also produced Bint El Nil (by Anter) whose son Kasr El Nil
(by Tuhotmos) was exported to the Czech National Stud Topolcianky. A fourth daughter, Dawlat (Anter x Shahrzada), exported to Bentwood, was dam of Asjah Ibn Faleh – US National Champion racehorse – and AK Sheherazada (by Shaikh Al Badi), one of Lodge Farm's best broodmares, most of her Egyptian offspring have been exported to the Middle East. Final illustrious member of the family is the World Champion Mare Tiffaha (Jamil x Taghreed). |
Hanan (Alaa El Din x Mona, Inshass) |
Abeyyan The Abbeyan strain derives from the Inshass stud - from the mare El Obeya Om Grees, a desert bred gift to King Farouk, and the most important of the families I have discussed not directly from the Abbas Pasha collection. They tend to be tall, smooth and scopey. Both the most important mares of this family were by Alaa El Din. Magidaa (Alaa El Din x Maisa, Inshass) exported to Gleannloch, was dam of Nabiel – a US Top Ten Stallion – and Bint Magidaa, dam of Ruminaja Ali, Ruminaja Bahjat and Alidaar – all champion stallions. The second mare of great renown is the stately bay Hanan (Alaa El Din x Mona, Inshass), dam of the three impressive stallions Salaa El Dine, Jamil and Asfour, as well as the famous daughters Ghazala, Ameera, Aroussa, Ashraff and Amal. Hanan's owner Dr Nagel, in Germany, has now been linebreeding two, three and four times to this mare with great success. |
| Kuhailan The final strain grouping is the Kuhailans, traditionally of shorter, broader heads, deeper bodies and more rounder appearance. Egyptians have both the Rodan strain from Crabbet and the Jellabi strain from Prince Mohammed Ali's stock. The Rodans still show more similarity to Crabbet stock, being longer in the back and notably good movers. Most famous mare was US National Champion Serenity Sonbolah (Sameh x Bint Om El Saad). Her half brother, the flamboyant Ikhnatoon (by Farazdac) was head sire at the EAO until his untimely death. |
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| The great broodmare sire Alaa El Din
(Nazeer x Kateefa) was of this family; as were the German sires Farag and Kaisoon, both
out of Bint Kateefa, and all known for their athletic action. Most famous of all for his movement was the Gleannloch multi-performance champion Sakr (Sultann x Enayat), another Rodan. Also of note was the smooth chestnut US Top Ten Mare Romanaa II (Sameh x Nazeera), granddam of Imperial Imdal. It is nevertheless fair to say that typically of stallions of this line, many of the outstanding individuals mentioned here have not been as good a sire as expected - being noted for producing excellent daughters, but not sons. The Jellabi strain rose to prominence through Maaroufa (Ibn Rabdan x Mahroussa), one of the original Babson imports and probably the most important one. Many top quality Egyptians trace on the bottom line back to her via Fada (Faddan x Aaroufa) including Prince Fa Moniet, AK Attallah and, of course, The Shah (Fabah x Bint Fada), British National Champion, who exemplified the best of the Babson qualities. |
Serenity Sonbolah (Sameh x Bint Om El Saad) |
| Through Serroufa (Fa Serr x Maaroufa) comes US Top Ten Mare Roufah (Ibn Fa Serr x Bah Roufa), great granddam of the Imperial owned champion BB Ora Kalilah (Orashan x Ph Safina) and through Maarou (Fay El Dine x Maaroufa) one of America's most prolific dam of champions, RDM Maar Hala (El Hilal x Maar Jumana). From her branch come the successful stallions El Halimaar and ET Crown Prince and the exotic Prince Ibn Shaikh. The Jellabis are characterised by broad heads with beautiful eyes and an overall strong Kuhailan build. | |
| So much pedigree work has been
generated by Egyptian enthusiasts, that sometimes it threatens to overshadow the horses
themselves, and this I fear is the biggest problem with preservation breeding, a facet of
the Egyptian scene, but gaining ground with other bloodline fanatics, too. Babson is a
good example. Henry Babson imported six horses, Fadl and five mares, to the United States
in 1932 and based a breeding programme on these six. The Babson horse had a lot to offer,
good eyes, no pigment loss, necks that bend trough the poll, good substance and nice
movement. They also had bad features which tended to turn up - they were small, developed
saddle backs and they tended to lose the dry quality and some were stocky little ponies.
In fact, Babson himself started to outcross with Ansata Abbas Pasha (Ansata Ibn Halima x
Ansata Bint Mabrouka) before he died, but 40 years later people are still continuing to
breed horses which trace in every line to the original six imports. The reason claimed is that they are "preserving" a genetic pool for future generations to incorporate, although they cannot say at which point this will occur. |
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| And as their horses become more
rarefied and magnificent on paper they tend to become less impressive in the flesh,
exhibiting some of the classic signs of damaging inbreeding. I think it is a peculiarly
American cultural development, that what starts off as a marketing moniker - adding value
to a particular subset of products - becomes a victim of its own enthusiasm and turns into
a mantra touted with quasi religious fervour. However, it doesn't stand up to the real
world. Babson blood is an excellent addition to Egyptian blood, but it can no longer stand up on its own. The last pure Babson champions of note were the lovely Roufah and The Shah, both born in the late sixties, both of whom have bred on outstandingly adding their qualities when mixed with other blood. |
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One of the last "pure" Babson champions was the mare Roufah |
I would apply the same scepticism to the
other restricted bloodline groups – Blue List, Sheykh Obeyd etc. It's a nice idea but
in real life it doesn't work. The Asil Club sounds better at first glance, maintaining
bloodlines that trace only to the desert. However, this is the definition that all stud
books have made an effort to preserve and I have to maintain a cynical view which is that
the Asil Club is trying to aggressively market its own horses over the sometimes superior
products of other people's programmes and it is mainly from this source that mud is slung
at the purity of other Arab horses. The really interesting question is wheter the Pyramid Society is just a larger version of the same, already taking the first steps along the road to a dead end. They have, after all, restricted the breeding of straight Egyptians, still a powerful marketing tool, to a closed source, the Egyptian State Stud. Unlike any other famous State stud, Egypt has not introduced any new bloodlines to correct faults and renew vigour. Certainly, there is still a certain amount of genetic latitude within the Egyptian pool and they are currently still producing some top of the range horses. |
| However, it gets
tougher all the time and I think it is fair to say that there are already some undesirable
features, it is hard, although not yet impossible, to find an Egyptian without. It is, at the present, impossible to say whether any straight Egyptians will still be competitive with other lines in the show ring, on the racetrack and as ridden horses in 20 years, in 50 years or in 100 years. For example, the Polish and Russian State studs have successfully used the freedom to incorporate some of the best features of Egyptians into their horses without losing their own unique "look". Meanwhile Egyptian breeders have only their own closely defined group to choose from. This makes it a pretty big and, in the long run, maybe an impossible challenge. |
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