The French
Arabian
© 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.
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.
