*FALAT: An
Anecdotal History
© 1996 Roxanne Rogers
In the year 1969 the great Polish mare, Forta, had her last foal.
That foal is now my stallion *Falat. Now Forta (born in 1943)
was one of the best producers that Poland ever had. Ironically,
she's half French which may explain her exceptional structure,
being more like a gazelle than a horse. Some people have gone
so far as to call her ugly but that is perhaps the sign of an
immature eye. As a racehorse Forta was in the money 10 of her
11 starts and won 2 Stakes races. As a broodmare she was a phenomenon.
She had a foal every year of her life from 1949-1967. She took
a well deserved rest in 1968 and then produced *Falat in 1969.
She was 27 when she died in 1970. All of Forta's foals that went
to the track were winners (17 of 20) and most were Stakes winners.
Quite a few were exported to the US, including: *Fortel, *Faroan,
*Farmacja, *Flis, *Finisz and *Falat, where they had good show
and breeding careers.
With so many illustrious brothers and sisters *Falat's pedigree
alone provides him with enough credentials. An animal so well
bred need do nothing else but exist and reproduce as far as I
am concerned. However *Falat did have one start at the track in
Poland which he won. For a horse to win his first start he must
have a lot of talent. Leon Rubin (Sir William Farms) brought him
to the U.S. in 1973, his four year old year. This put a big kink
in his racing career but he did win National Top Ten Halter and
English Pleasure even though I am told that he really did not
adapt well to the life of the show horse. Knowing *Falat as I
do I can only say that I am sure that he found that entire experience
humiliating. It is easy to see why Mr. Rubin (*Sambor's importer)
would be attracted to *Falat. He is a horseman's Arabian: tall,
athletic, good bone and lots of presence, when he's in the mood.
In 1975 the Dr.'s Tack of Manitoba, Canada purchased *Falat from
a Scottsdale auction. Now, it seems a certain racehorse trainer
who will remain unnamed, had a serious longing to own *Falat himself.
He tried to talk the Doctors into racing him but they had visions
of Cutbacks and gimmicks floating in their heads and weren't interested.
They did agree to let the unscrupulous fellow haul the horse home
for them and went on their merry way. When they got home they
soon realized that all was not well. It seems the trainer had
absconded with their new purchase and was having a jolly time
racing him illegally in New Mexico. Several months and a very
large detective bill later they did manage to get their horse
back. Sadly Dr. Tack died soon after recovering *Falat and his
wife (Dr. Tack also) kept *Falat around for 6 years and bred him
sparingly to mainly Crabbet type mares.
Oddly enough I received a phone call from the absconding scoundrel
some years ago. He told me a tale of how he had come close to
owning *Falat himself and that he was the best Arabian he had
ever run across. He also told me that he had the great thrill
of riding him at full speed himself (seems he was an ex Thoroughbred
jockey) and that he was hands-down the fastest Arabian he had
ever been on. He went so far as to tell me that "if those
Doctors had raced him, all comers including *Sambor would never
have beat him. He would have been National Champion Racehorse
easy". I would agree with the man's assessment since I too
have had the pleasure of riding *Falat (under better circumstances)
at top speed when he was a mere 15 years old. The temptation was
very great to put him on the track but Dad said *Falat's heart
might burst with the effort. Caution won out. I did, however,
gallop *Falat daily until he was about 18 years old. He absolutely
loved it and so did I. On the video we made of him I ride him
racehorse "exercise rider" style because its his preference
and mine also.
My father is responsible for my owning *Falat today. We had a
handful of mares after the shakedown in the crazy eighties and
our foundation sire, *Gay Polka had died a couple of years prior
to finding *Falat. Since the original plan was to breed *Gay Polka
daughters to *Kirkor (a Gwarny son also and similar in type to
*Falat) before the Double U Ranch dispersed, *Falat was a logical
choice. We originally leased him from the Brothwells who had purchased
him from Dr. Tack in 1981. The Brothwell brothers had a lot of
fun riding him after jackrabbits in Northern Saskatchewan but
also used him lightly as a sire. *Falat is not a showhorse sire.
(A friend of mine refers to him as Mr. Racehorse).
During the first year that we had *Falat he got away from me while
I was leading him one day. As he raced up a mile long gravel road
my Dad came out the back of barn and said "I've never seen
an Arab run that fast before." I was uncharacteristically
speechless. Now, all farms have junk piles don't they? Even those
run by my perfectionist father. Of course, *Falat headed straight
for the junk pile which happened to sit in a neat square adjoining
the Arabian pasture. In the corner of this square with no more
than six inches between a stack of trusses and the fence line
stood *Falat. Dad looked at me and said in that voice I really
fear, "Go to the house". I naturally refused hoping
against hope that his leg wasn't broken. *Falat was a little worked
up talking to the mares but he was stationary. As we neared him
a glimmer of hope appeared since there was nothing obviously wrong
with him. We got up to him and realized that miraculously nothing
was broken. There wasn't a scratch to be found. We had to dismantle
the fence to extract him out of his impossible quarters. With
no broken limbs to be found there was only one explanation to
be had. He must have flown.
After *Falat was put safely away and the fence put back together
we started to track him. He had galloped with his left front and
hind feet on the edges of the trusses and his right feet on the
narrow path between trusses and fence. Only the most agile of
horses could accomplish something like this and remain unscathed.
In 1984 I purchased *Falat from Brothwells. I was quite obsessed
with him and would not rest until his papers were in my name.
When this finally happened I was the happiest of 23 year olds.
I set about trying to make myself worthy of such a horse but its
hard to promote a stallion when you are a starving student.
I knew *Falat needed recognition in the racing world so that his
natural talents (speed and agility) could be appreciated. This
steered me to Kentucky to racing school. When I came back to Alberta
I raced Thoroughbreds and Arabians for a couple of years until
the time came when I had a *Falat daughter out of our foundation
mare Gay Miracle (*Gay Polka x *Arwistawa), to race. Her name
is Arieadne after the Greek demi Goddess who aided the hero Theseus
in slaying the Minotaur of the Labyrinth. I always loved the rich
symbolism of this myth and chose the name also, in keeping with
the "Ar" dam line Polish thing. However in my zeal to
get this name and avoid sticking tacky letters before or aft I
misspelled it (should be Ariadne) on purpose.
Arieadne is all that I hoped for. Her athletic structure, amazing
intelligence and great ability, I could go on but its really her
heart that enthralls me the most. That intangible something that
a racehorse needs to be truly great. She had it all and I had
to go on to another phase in my life at a critical time in her
race career. She did get one start at the end of a season which
she won, just like her sire.
I had to stop training since my family and I began the enterprise
of Kaszmir Stud and Racing Stables in 1987. Finally I had the
place to suit my great stallion. Our new farm was a dream come
true but the responsibility of running such a large operation
for yourself makes it impossible to do anything else - like playing
"Gypsy" at the racetrack. I have done what I could over
the years to be worthy of *Falat. He has bred top quality mares
and some of his get have gone on to race without me. Falcons Flyte
is a Stakes Winning son, Feldspar (x Beatrice by *Beander x Harpona
by *Gay Polka) is still racing in Dubai and has won three races
against very stiff competition (yes, even French), and Elektra
(x Arwisza by Arwitraz) is running this year (1996) at Los Alamitos
and so far has won 2 and placed in 2 out of 4 starts. Its easy
to see that when *Falat get have a chance they do not disappoint.
My personal favourite, Arieadne, has been leased to Seahorse Farms
in France where I hope she will gain some renown as a broodmare.
She had a truly outstanding colt by *Chutor before she left the
country. His name is Albion and he will race as a four year old
next year under the colors of Cloud Nine Arabians of Coeur D'Alene,
Idaho. I have a very promising yearling *Falat son (Fallkon) coming
along. He shows a lot of promise and I hope he may run the way
his sire should have. I also have a couple of daughters, though
I wish I had more. Hinz-Schleuter Arabians has Arieadne's full
sister, Amarylis, and she has an outstanding *Chutor colt at her
side.
My big obstacle in proving *Falat as a racehorse sire has been
the inability to breed 30+ mares a season and get at least 15
of his get to the track every year. If I could have done this....
The last few years I quit breeding any mare that came along to
him (you never know what might nick - Falcons Flyte a case in
point). Now at age 27 *Falat breeds only my own mares because
I cannot be confident that he will settle outside mares. He is
stiff in the joints compared to the days of his youth but he didn't
really start to show any age until he was 24. He gets special
cooked feed because his teeth are mostly gone but his incredible
intelligence and sense of humour (yes he has one) have never left
him. My father always warned me "never get married to a horse",
but I guess he didn't count on my meeting with *Falat. If wishes
were horses, to me, they would be *Falat.
Tanglewood
Breeders of Polish and French Arabian Horses and Thoroughbred
Racehorses
RR1
New Noway, Alberta
Canada T0B 3L0
Tel (780) 352-6413
roxannerogers13@gmail.com
This document © 1996 - 2009
Roxanne Rogers, all rights reserved.
