Bashar Al Kamar MH

Bashar Al Kamar MH is a 2010 bay stallion, bred by Jody Cruz of Rancho Bulakenyo. His sire, Imperial Al Kamar, was representative of Imperial Egyptian Stud’s classic blend of bloodlines as he was a grandson of the Sameh daughter, *Serenity Sonbolah and through El Hilal, was also a grandson of *Ansata Ibn Halima. Imperial Al Kamar has two crosses to *Ansata Ibn Halima in his pedigree. *Sanaa (Hossny's dam) is a daughter of Yashmak, a Sheikh El Arab daughter, as is Halima, the dam of *Ansata Ibn Halima. Through Om el Saad, Yashmak appears again and provides another source of the Kuhaylan Rodan strain, through the tail female line of Imperial Al Kamar. So, in this stallion, we have the very dominant presence of the Rodania family; balanced not only by the Dahman lines through Halima and  *Bint Nefisa but also through Sheikh el Arab, who is the common ground between two mares who physically, couldn't be any more different from each other.

An elegant and exquisite grey mare, Binte Aziza MH, the dam of Bashar, was sired by a United States and Canada Top Ten Futurity Colt, Richter MH, a son of El Halimaar (*Ansata Ibn Halima x RDM Maar Hala) and out of the *Farazdac daughter, Fasarra (*Farazdac x *Masarra). On the maternal side of her pedigree, Binte Aziza MH was out of a beautiful Abenhetep (*Ibn Hafiza x Omnia) daughter named BintAzizaPrincess. One of the more interesting stories about the family of horses that Binte Aziza MH and her dam, BintAzizaPrincess descend from, involves General Pettko Von Szandtner, the Director General of the EAO. When the socialist revolution led by Gamel Abdel Nasser occurred in 1952 and King Fouad’s Inshass Stud became part of the newly-named Egyptian Agricultural Organization (EAO) at El Zahraa,  General Pettko Von Szandtner personally selected the 1951 mare Shahbaa, a Hamdan daughter out of Shahd (El Moez x Shams), who was the great-grand dam of BintAzizaPrincess. It gives me chills, when I think that a modern day horse like Bashar Al Kamar MH exists today because of the wisdom of a beloved and influential horseman like General Von Szandtner, based upon a decision he made, seventy years ago.

What I found interesting about Bashar's pedigree, despite the fact that he is a pure-in-the-strain Kuhaylan horse (and substrain, Kurush, through his dam), is that *Ansata Ibn Halima exerts a larger percentage of influence genetically, than any of the Kuhaylan strain horses. Through El Hilal, Hossny, El Halimaar and Nazim Pascha, he represents 28% of the pedigree, as compared to the Kuhaylan horses (12.5%) who appear in the same generation as most of the *Ansata Ibn Halima lines do (5th generation). Understanding the foundation of the Rancho Bulakenyo breeding program, I can't think of a horse who better represents the growth of the program from its inception, under the management of Dr. Felino Cruz, to the present day, through Dr. Joseph Cruz's direction.

Also, an important point to make about Bashar involves his coat color, which is a dark bay or as more commonly called, black-bay. In the early 2000s, I started to notice  that the Imperial Al Kamar-sired horses of this coat color, were of a completely different type than the grey-colored Kamar-sired horses. The bay Kamars generally have a larger, rounder, more prominent eye, set lower in their heads and short, tippy ears. They are more closely-coupled, with freedom in the shoulders, broader chests, deeper heart girths, higher set necks and a pronounced wither.  I last saw Kamar in 2004, way before Imperial decided to disperse its horses. I had mentioned this observation to Beverly Sziraky and she agreed, the bays were different from the gray Kamars and although of different lines, resembled the phenotype of Imperial Shehaab. I always wondered if this influence came by way of Imperial Sonbesjul, the Hossny-sired daughter of *Serenity Sonbolah. Both horses share common ground through this mare, albeit her influence comes from a different side of the pedigree in each horse. In a conversation with Jody Cruz, I asked him what is the best use of Bashar as a sire? Jody answered, "he's best with mares having strong hind ends and solid toplines. He will add face, eyes, amazing ears and presence."

Bashar has matured into a vital breeding stallion for Rancho Bulakenyo. How important is Bashar Al Kamar MH to Rancho Bulakenyo?  Of the mares that currently make up the breeding herd at Rancho Bulakenyo, a quarter of those mares carry the blood of BintAzizaPrincess and the mares that don’t, will be bred to Bashar or his full brother, Nour Al Kamar MH...but more about Nour later.