Legends live forever, heroes die young, and old heroes fall into oblivion! These are the laws of life. In this world, there is no place for heroes growing old. Whoever wants to be unforgotten has to take leave of life early. Dying tragically with youth and radiant beauty guarantees immortality.

Stallions like Morafic, Ghazal or Ansata Halim Shah will always be remembered, because they died when still young. But who is thinking of the old heroes who are still amongst the living? Who is talking about Menes, Aladdinnn or Padron? The heroes of former times sink into oblivion. Until their death...

Ruminaja Ali shared their fate. Once the whole world had been talking about him, but in the past years it had become quiet around him. Ten years ago, breeders still spoke his name with awe. Later on, there was indifference. And suddenly he was just one of many.

He didn’t deserve it, for his appearance was exceptional. A stallion, as if he was taken out of a picture-book. A character, a personality. A sire of a global status, whose sons and daughters were by no means inferior to him.

The Rise

In 1979, Ali provided a sensation, when he – an unknown "yokel" – won the the title of "U.S. National Futurity Champion Colt". Nobody knew him, and nobody hab been counting on him – but everyone was applauding enthusiastically when he was trotting his victory pass. This evening, Ruminaja Ali devaluated the complete American show elite. Never before had there been such enthusiastic applause for a champion. He was the "American dream" come alive, the omnipresent story of how everything is possible: Ruminaja Ali gloriously entered the world of show and became a star overnight.

"It was incredible," his owner Jim Bergren remembers. "My brother, my mother and I were sitting on the stand and were clining to each other. Ali’s breeders, Russ and Mildred Jameson, were as white as sheets and sitting beside us. There we were – five strangers from Michigan, who were a match for the whole industry. And Ali cutted them all out. A great feeling!"

The Zenith

Then David Gardner came into Ali’s life, an excellent marketing strategist and breeder. He was the former manager of the gigantic Bentwood Farm. "Ali fascinated me at first sight," he explains. "And I didn’t give up until he finally stood in my stable."

This was the beginning of the rise and fall of Ruminaja Ali. He was syndicated for millions of dollars (6,5 million US-dollars, to be precise), and David Gardner supervised every single step of him. Nothing was left to chance. When Ali appeared once more in the show ring in 1983, he was so well-known already that the fans, who occupied large parts of the stands, were shouting his name. There were pennants with his name, badges, coats, caps and scarfs which proclaimed that Ali was the only true National Champion. They were right – nearly. His fans were shouting with joy when Ruminaja Ali became the 1983 Reserve National Champion Stallion.

Only a short time afterwards Ali’s genetic prepotency was found out. His sire Shaikh Al Badi (Morafic x Bint Maisa El Saghira) became a star simply because of Ali, for he was far his best product. Nothing Shaikh Al Badi sired before or after Ali measures up to him. Only his full brothers and sisters came close – but a distance remained!

His dam Bint Magidaa (Khofo by Morafic x Magidaa by Alaa El Din) is descended from one of the strongest and most successful Egyptian dam lines. The half brother of Bint Magidaa is Nabiel (Sakr x Magidaa), whose star in the "Egyptian" sky shone once as bright as Ali’s.

Ali’s beauty made him famous, but his reputation as a sire followed immediately. He sired more than four hundred foals. And whoever has sons like Ali Jamaal, Anaza El Farid or Focus Khemali among his offspring doesn’t have to prove anything. Ali Jamaal alone would have brought fame for his sire, as he set a standard of Arabian type, harmony and elegance throughout the world. Hes get have won whatever there was to be won, on almost every continent. Ali Jamaal himself stood in the limelight as National Champion in Canada and the USA. Ruminaja Ali was superior to Shaikh Al Badi in genetic prepotency, and Ali Jamaal is ahead of his sire by a short head. Lenity Perroy in Brazil has been Ali Jamaal’s owner for many years and has managed him with circumspection and deep love. Among Ali Jamaal’s sons, there are some who are not only a match for their sire but who surpass him. "You wish to have in your life two horses like Ali Jamaal," Lenita perroy says. "But believe me, you are the happiest person on earth if you have a single one like him!"

In Europe, the stallions MA Alishah, Focus Khemali, Ali Valentino, Coaltown and the charming mares BSA Aliya, MA Pistol and BKA Alisabbah (to mention just a few) are, as ambassadors of the Ali-blood, very successful. Focus Khemali was the 1996 World Champion and Champion Stallion of Germany’s "All Nations Cup" at which his sister BSA Aliya became Champion Mare. The black stallion Coaltown, who impresses with a face as if it was chiseled out of marble became Reserve National Champion of Italy. MA Alishah made a stir because of his extremely exotic type and Ali Valentino was the Senior Champion at Germany’s National Stallion Show at Aachen in 1997. He got excellent marks for his type. At the beginnig of 1998, Ali Valentino was the Senior Champion Stallion at the international show at Wels/Austria.

The Personality

Ruminaja Ali wasn’t a "soft" stallion. As typical of the Morafic-line he had an ardent temperament and a mind of his own. He knew how to communicate clearly and expressed his indignation as passionately as his joy. The well-known photographer Polly Knoll, who took some of the most beautiful pictures of him, kwem him a long time and well. "He always had this special inner fire, which distingiushed him from others and made him a champion," she remembers. "It wasn’t always easy to control his temperament. David Gardner did that the best, with him Ali was at ease! But never again did I see Ali as happy as when in company of David’s daughter Katie. She rode him bareback. Barefooted. Just like that. She got on his back and off they went!" Ali was no darling standing cressing in the box, but a stallion through and through. After Ali had been separated from David Gardner and especially from Katie, he just wasn’t the old one. And David Gardner missed Ali, too. The tough professional, who could have sold fridges to Eskimos while giving them the feeling that they made the deal of their lifes, got dreamy eyes when talking about Ali. He owed him so much. Or was it Ruminaja Ali, who wouldn’t have made it to the top without his competent manager? Who can tell that today, who can separate them? Fact is, that Ali’s own son became his doom. And it was David Gardner who bred that son.

The End

It was The Minstril (Ruminaja Ali x Bahila). He was the reason, why David Gardner put Ali into cold storage. Systematically he build The Minstril up as a star and earned with him the proverbial "big money". Of Ruminaja Ali David Gardner just had a few shares. The Minstril was completely his own. He was able to commercialize him however he wanted to. And he did that skilfully. Today you can hardly avoid him in America’s Egyptian breeding programmes. While Ruminaja Ali’s star was being extinguished slowly, The Minstril’s name shot into the sky like a comet. The number of his foals has reached half a thousand and his son Thee Desperado (The Minstril x AK Amiri Asmarr) belongs to those with the highest stud fees. The extremely elegant bay Desperado did not only win at shows (Scottsdale Grand Champion Stallion, Reserve National Champion Stallion), but impresses with best offspring on almost every continent of this world.

David Gardner knew about the laws of life and the market, so he let The Minstril "die" in time – he took him from the market and closed his book to outside mares. As already said: heroes have to retire when still young to remain heroes...

At the time of the crash of the Arabian "industry" – when the prices were low and there wasn’t any money to be earned with horses – Ali’s new manager Lyle Bertsch wasn’t interested in him any longer. So the Bergren brothers brought him back to Michigan at the end of 1989, where he was born in 1976. Some breeders remained loyal to Ali, but most of them turned to better commercialized stallions. He died on the 29^th of August in 1997 –almost unnoticed by the world. But Ruminaja Ali won’t be forgotten. As we all know: legends will live forever!