♘امیرحسین♞
♘ مدیریت انجمن اسب ایران ♞
© 1996 Roxanne Rogers
There is some new Arabian racing blood coming our way and anyone who is serious about upgrading their Arabians with a goal to any form of athletic ability should be paying very close attention to these horses.
It all started in the United States with Sheik Tahnoon-Bin-Zayed's 's French import Calin de Louve (Djelfor x Kaline de loup by Djouras Tu). This horse was surrounded by much controversy since he was undefeated in all of his starts against the very best horses racing in 1992 and 1993. His race record is 2/8 (8-0-0) 6, with earnings of over $200,000.00 and it won him a Darley Award in 1994 for best four year old. All this and he does not resemble any type of Arabian that North Americans are accustomed to.
I breed Thoroughbreds as well as Arabians and I must admit that at first glance I was just a bit skeptical myself. However, one should never judge a book by its cover or make rash assumptions without doing some homework. So, I began the homework because after all, this horse was a winner and a very handsome one at that!
As it turns out, the pure French Arabian established its beginnings about one hundred years ago (much the same as breeding programs did in Poland, Great Britain etc.) with the importation of Desert stock. Backing up just a bit, I wish to remind everyone that there were many different types of Arabians on the desert, as pointed out by Raswan and others. Actually, Raswan listed twenty-one and from that wide range we North Americans think mainly of only two types: the Kuhailan and Seglawi. We know of the Munighi but we generally hold it in disdain because the experts told us to.
The Poles chose mostly Kuhailan and Seglawi strains to keep that so-called Arabian "type", wanting these horses for outcrosses. Their "prettiness" would add refinement to native stock. However, the French took a different route and chose for racing - and racing alone. Denouste is probably the most recognizable French Arabian name as it appears in quite a few Polish and Russian pedigrees. Upon analyzing his pedigree, we find his desert ancestors to be as follows: Seglawi Djedran, Seglawi Dhabri, Hamdani, Hamdani, Seglawi Djedran, Munighi, Kuhailan, Jilfan, Hadban and Meleke. The point is that this horse's lines are all from recognizable desert strains and it is my contention that all French Arabians are descended in a similar way. With that in mind, how is it then that they look so different from Simeon Shai for example?
The answer is very simple. For one hundred years the French, without government agendas, bred their Arabians exclusively to race. In doing this, so-called "type" may have been lost, but this type is a superficial aspect of the breed and only applies to nine of the listed strains. Our lust for superficial beauty has caused the systematic breeding away from some plain but extremely useful and athletic Arabians.
The French did not make this same mistake. Look at these horses with an open mind and you may realize that an entire gene pool is out there, pure in blood, but different in purpose. If you are breeding for racing and not taking these horses seriously, I fear you may be left at the gate. Arabian racing is the largest growth area in the Arabian industry (possibly the entire racing Industry) so it behooves us to look back in time to Prince Roman Sanguszko's Gumniska Stud in Poland.
Founded in 1835 along much the same lines as the other Polish Stud Farms of its day, Gumniska changed direction in the 1920's and 30's when racing was introduced as a vehicle for selection. It seems the Prince was a sporting man and bred to win races, ignoring all other features. To quote Rozwadowski, "The Stud (Gumniska) was obviously managed with the view to winning races while little attention was paid to the continuity of type. This policy objective was thoroughly fulfilled since the stud achieved outstanding successes on the racecourse." The balance of Rozwadowski's comments on this policy are quite rude and it is my personal opinion that he had a case of sour grapes since Gumniska's successes are traced to its importation of some very prominent horses from France. Horses such as Djeballa 2/8 (4-4-0) Oaks, Nedjari (4 wins in France and the sire of three Derby winners) and Nemer, the only horse to ever defeat Kaszmir, Poland's greatest racehorse of all time.
Dr. Edward Skorkowski states, "The most dangerous adversaries for Polish Arabian horses were the French Arabian horses, who showed very often to fourteen generations the speed selected during the races..." This statement was made in 1969 when the Poles did not show and racing was paramount. Modern day Polish Arabians cannot keep up on the racetracks of the world and old exported blood is being revitalized in many North American racing programs, but the gene pool is narrow and to win races the injection of French blood is most useful.
Polish Arabians with old French blood include such notables as Forta, Eleanora,
Grand, *Pietuszok, Arcus and *Sabellina. French blood is prominent in Russian pedigrees also, notably Dikarka (dam of Prodruga) and Sapine. Betty Finke, from her article on Russian Arabians in Europe (Arabian Horse World Nov. '93) says this, "One might add that France is the only country where Arabian racing is not dominated by Russian horses as France has a long tradition of Arabians bred specifically for racing that beat virtually everything, including the Russians."
Today the private French racing breeders are a small but secure lot. The Sheiks regularly buy their stock at ridiculous prices and it is hard for small North American breeders to compete. However, there are now six French stallions standing in America so these lines are finally becoming accessible. Cheri Bibi 1/4 (4-0-0), though deceased in 1990, is still the leading sire of French racehorses. He is also the most respected and was one of the best looking sires. Manganate is the most controversial because of his complete lack of type, but he is the grandsire of Calin de Louve and seems to have proven better as a sire of sires. Other leading sires include Djouras Tu, Tidjani 1/5 (5-0-0), Djelfor, and Dormane. Of these horses, Tidjani and Cheri Bibi are the only undefeated sires. The leading dam line, without question, is Nevada II, 1/8(2-4-2).
Standing in North America are the stallions, *Ala Croix Noire (Tidjani x Okie du Cassou by Baroud III) 3/9 (4-3-1) 4, leading racehorse in France in 1991, *Haffir el Rimal (Cheri Bibi x Zid Htatousel by Seraskier) 1/5 (1-0-1) 1, three-quarter brother to European Champion Bengali D'Albret 4/24 (16-4-3) 7, *Aneto (Manganate x Muriella by Sherkan II) unraced, *Volcano de Carrere (Djourman x Samba by Baroud III) 2/4 (2-1-0), *Djendel (Manganate x Mandore by Grabiec) 4/9 (6-1-0) 1, and *Virgule al Maury (Kesberoy x Valse du Cassou by Baroud III) 3/16 (6-7-2) Stks Plcd.
In the October 1995 issue of Arabian Horse World, Nat Gorham has this to say, "When one begins chit-chatting about summer racing in Europe for the '95 season, you better be darn sure that both your chit and your chat can handle the French language because in the big European International races, Arabians bred in France and/or of French bloodlines again totally dominated the season across the pond." The only way to be ready for these professional racehorses when they invade North America is to breed our best stock to French stallions and hope for hybrid vigour. You may already have some French bloodlines in your current program. Perhaps its time to "take it and run with it." See you at the races.
Legend:
In case you have never read a race-record before, if we look at Bengali D'Albret's race record we read: raced 4 years, had 24 starts, 16 wins, 4 places (seconds) and 3 shows (thirds). Of his wins, 7 were Stakes races.
I would like to especially thank Alain Benarrous and Elizabeth Hennessy of Seahorse Farm for helping me with this research.
There is some new Arabian racing blood coming our way and anyone who is serious about upgrading their Arabians with a goal to any form of athletic ability should be paying very close attention to these horses.
It all started in the United States with Sheik Tahnoon-Bin-Zayed's 's French import Calin de Louve (Djelfor x Kaline de loup by Djouras Tu). This horse was surrounded by much controversy since he was undefeated in all of his starts against the very best horses racing in 1992 and 1993. His race record is 2/8 (8-0-0) 6, with earnings of over $200,000.00 and it won him a Darley Award in 1994 for best four year old. All this and he does not resemble any type of Arabian that North Americans are accustomed to.
I breed Thoroughbreds as well as Arabians and I must admit that at first glance I was just a bit skeptical myself. However, one should never judge a book by its cover or make rash assumptions without doing some homework. So, I began the homework because after all, this horse was a winner and a very handsome one at that!
As it turns out, the pure French Arabian established its beginnings about one hundred years ago (much the same as breeding programs did in Poland, Great Britain etc.) with the importation of Desert stock. Backing up just a bit, I wish to remind everyone that there were many different types of Arabians on the desert, as pointed out by Raswan and others. Actually, Raswan listed twenty-one and from that wide range we North Americans think mainly of only two types: the Kuhailan and Seglawi. We know of the Munighi but we generally hold it in disdain because the experts told us to.
The Poles chose mostly Kuhailan and Seglawi strains to keep that so-called Arabian "type", wanting these horses for outcrosses. Their "prettiness" would add refinement to native stock. However, the French took a different route and chose for racing - and racing alone. Denouste is probably the most recognizable French Arabian name as it appears in quite a few Polish and Russian pedigrees. Upon analyzing his pedigree, we find his desert ancestors to be as follows: Seglawi Djedran, Seglawi Dhabri, Hamdani, Hamdani, Seglawi Djedran, Munighi, Kuhailan, Jilfan, Hadban and Meleke. The point is that this horse's lines are all from recognizable desert strains and it is my contention that all French Arabians are descended in a similar way. With that in mind, how is it then that they look so different from Simeon Shai for example?
The answer is very simple. For one hundred years the French, without government agendas, bred their Arabians exclusively to race. In doing this, so-called "type" may have been lost, but this type is a superficial aspect of the breed and only applies to nine of the listed strains. Our lust for superficial beauty has caused the systematic breeding away from some plain but extremely useful and athletic Arabians.
The French did not make this same mistake. Look at these horses with an open mind and you may realize that an entire gene pool is out there, pure in blood, but different in purpose. If you are breeding for racing and not taking these horses seriously, I fear you may be left at the gate. Arabian racing is the largest growth area in the Arabian industry (possibly the entire racing Industry) so it behooves us to look back in time to Prince Roman Sanguszko's Gumniska Stud in Poland.
Founded in 1835 along much the same lines as the other Polish Stud Farms of its day, Gumniska changed direction in the 1920's and 30's when racing was introduced as a vehicle for selection. It seems the Prince was a sporting man and bred to win races, ignoring all other features. To quote Rozwadowski, "The Stud (Gumniska) was obviously managed with the view to winning races while little attention was paid to the continuity of type. This policy objective was thoroughly fulfilled since the stud achieved outstanding successes on the racecourse." The balance of Rozwadowski's comments on this policy are quite rude and it is my personal opinion that he had a case of sour grapes since Gumniska's successes are traced to its importation of some very prominent horses from France. Horses such as Djeballa 2/8 (4-4-0) Oaks, Nedjari (4 wins in France and the sire of three Derby winners) and Nemer, the only horse to ever defeat Kaszmir, Poland's greatest racehorse of all time.
Dr. Edward Skorkowski states, "The most dangerous adversaries for Polish Arabian horses were the French Arabian horses, who showed very often to fourteen generations the speed selected during the races..." This statement was made in 1969 when the Poles did not show and racing was paramount. Modern day Polish Arabians cannot keep up on the racetracks of the world and old exported blood is being revitalized in many North American racing programs, but the gene pool is narrow and to win races the injection of French blood is most useful.
Polish Arabians with old French blood include such notables as Forta, Eleanora,
Grand, *Pietuszok, Arcus and *Sabellina. French blood is prominent in Russian pedigrees also, notably Dikarka (dam of Prodruga) and Sapine. Betty Finke, from her article on Russian Arabians in Europe (Arabian Horse World Nov. '93) says this, "One might add that France is the only country where Arabian racing is not dominated by Russian horses as France has a long tradition of Arabians bred specifically for racing that beat virtually everything, including the Russians."
Today the private French racing breeders are a small but secure lot. The Sheiks regularly buy their stock at ridiculous prices and it is hard for small North American breeders to compete. However, there are now six French stallions standing in America so these lines are finally becoming accessible. Cheri Bibi 1/4 (4-0-0), though deceased in 1990, is still the leading sire of French racehorses. He is also the most respected and was one of the best looking sires. Manganate is the most controversial because of his complete lack of type, but he is the grandsire of Calin de Louve and seems to have proven better as a sire of sires. Other leading sires include Djouras Tu, Tidjani 1/5 (5-0-0), Djelfor, and Dormane. Of these horses, Tidjani and Cheri Bibi are the only undefeated sires. The leading dam line, without question, is Nevada II, 1/8(2-4-2).
Standing in North America are the stallions, *Ala Croix Noire (Tidjani x Okie du Cassou by Baroud III) 3/9 (4-3-1) 4, leading racehorse in France in 1991, *Haffir el Rimal (Cheri Bibi x Zid Htatousel by Seraskier) 1/5 (1-0-1) 1, three-quarter brother to European Champion Bengali D'Albret 4/24 (16-4-3) 7, *Aneto (Manganate x Muriella by Sherkan II) unraced, *Volcano de Carrere (Djourman x Samba by Baroud III) 2/4 (2-1-0), *Djendel (Manganate x Mandore by Grabiec) 4/9 (6-1-0) 1, and *Virgule al Maury (Kesberoy x Valse du Cassou by Baroud III) 3/16 (6-7-2) Stks Plcd.
In the October 1995 issue of Arabian Horse World, Nat Gorham has this to say, "When one begins chit-chatting about summer racing in Europe for the '95 season, you better be darn sure that both your chit and your chat can handle the French language because in the big European International races, Arabians bred in France and/or of French bloodlines again totally dominated the season across the pond." The only way to be ready for these professional racehorses when they invade North America is to breed our best stock to French stallions and hope for hybrid vigour. You may already have some French bloodlines in your current program. Perhaps its time to "take it and run with it." See you at the races.
Legend:
In case you have never read a race-record before, if we look at Bengali D'Albret's race record we read: raced 4 years, had 24 starts, 16 wins, 4 places (seconds) and 3 shows (thirds). Of his wins, 7 were Stakes races.
I would like to especially thank Alain Benarrous and Elizabeth Hennessy of Seahorse Farm for helping me with this research.