Al Nahr Serroya

"In view of the fabled past of Farida/Abla, I believe that the E.A.O., should have retained and worked with many broodmares of this line...I am personally curious to see what this line could produce if further taken toward Ibn Rabdan blood."-Phillipe Paraskevas, from his book, The Egyptian Alternative, Volume II

Al Nahr Serroya was a 1966 daughter of the straight Babson Egyptian stallion, Fa-Serr.  Her dam was the EAO-bred, Anter daughter, *Nagat, out of Abla. A Dahmah Shahwaniyah by strain, *Nagat was a full sister to the mares: Looza, Rashika, Somaia, Eman, Ein and Adaweya.  Looza and Adaweya were retained for the EAO breeding program and the other mares, were sold. *Nagat was imported into the United States by Jay Stream in 1965, who bred Al Nahr Serroya.
 
When I think of this mare, I am fascinated. She was so unique! In pedigree, she combines individual horses who had been separated by exportation, for more than 30 years. Fa-Serr was a son of *Fadl and *Bint Serra I, horses who came from Egypt, from the programs of Prince Mohamed Aly Tewfik and Prince Kamal al-Din respectively. Fa-Serr was the first generation of the imported Egyptian horses, born at the Babson Farm. While *Maaroufa and *Bint Bint Sabbah were prolific broodmares at the Babson Farm, neither mare appears in the pedigree of Al Nahr Serroya. That's a bit different, as compared to the majority of Babson-bred horses who carry either one or both mares in their pedigree.

Al Nahr Serroya, as photographed by Johnny Johnston

There are three lines to Ibn Rabdan in the pedigree, through *Fadl, Hamdan and Bint Bint Dalal. The stallion, Rabdan el Azrak, who is the sire of Ibn Rabdan, bred by Prince Ahmad Pasha Kamal,  appears eight times in the pedigree and together with the three lines for Ibn Rabdan, brings the total lines to eleven, further intensifying the sire line of Gamil El Kebir and illustrating what the influence of Ibn Rabdan could do, as Phillipe Paraskevas explained in his new book. Her Blunt desert bred percentages are  low, approximately 11% and the Blunt blood comes via two sons of Queen of Sheba, as found in the pedigree of *Bint Serra I (*Astraled by Mesaoud and Ahmar by Azrek). Ahmar is also the sire of Bukra, the dam of Berk, who contributes Blunt desert blood on the bottom of the pedigree, through the sire line of Helwa's pedigree. 

Her production record is not extensive and  includes the 1972 bay stallion, Ser-Rom by AN Monte Carlo (*Ibn Moniet el Nefous x Bint Fada), the 1976 bay mare AK Serrmonietta by *Ibn Moniet el Nefous and the 1980 grey mare AK Bint Serroya by Na Ibn Moniet.

Al Nahr Serroya was a celebration, in physical form, of the wisdom of her breeder and his thinking outside the box, which in his time period was remarkable. I only wish there was more of her!