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Thee Asil (Thee Desperado x Amira Barakaa) |
Thee Asil was a straight Egyptian stallion; a son of
Thee Desperado and Alia Barakaa (Ruminaja Ali x Amira Barakaa). He's no longer alive, having died sometime during the summer of 2015, at the age of 18. A photo of his maternal granddam, Amira Barakaa (
TheEgyptianPrince x Bint Barakaa) was posted recently on Instagram and that's what got me to thinking about him. I'm biased by color, if there is such a thing as color preference and so, I was attracted to this golden horse, when he was alive. I don't think I was in the minority either, as Thee Asil was an Egyptian Event Champion 3-year old colt, a Region 9 reserve champion stallion twice, in addition to several class A wins. He was a charismatic, showy horse with abundant style, in a taller, stretchier frame. At the time, Arabians LTD promoted Thee Asil for the added length in his neck, one of the more longer-necked stallions not only within the Arabians LTD universe but also, in the greater community of straight Egyptian breeding.
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Amira Barakaa (*Sakr x Barakaa), Thee Asil's maternal granddam, photographed by the late Polly Knoll |
It's interesting to observe the continued impact over time of a specific horse, as the matriline of this mare is to
Rodania, reinforced additionally by *Sakr (also from the same matriline), the sire of Amira Barakaa, to Barakaa to
Om el Saad to Yashmak to Bint Rissala, one of 2 Rodania-line mares purchased by the RAS from the Crabbet Stud in 1920. If you remember from a previous
blog, Judith Forbis described the mare, Yashmak, as,
"Yashmak was a big, tall, graceful bay mare with a long supple neck, longish head, well-shaped with huge black eyes, and much improved in type over her dam."
Can we emphasize the adjectives that Judi used in her description: "big," "tall," "long," "huge." While Yashmak herself was bay and not chestnut, perhaps, if you believe that coat color predicts genetic influence, then the chestnut Thee Asil inherited the added length from one of the most powerful mare families in the breed, the chestnut-centric Rodania family of horses: Bint Rissala>Risala>Ridaa>Rose of Sharon>Rodania.
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Thee Asil, as photographed by Suzanne Sturgill |
While he was gray and not chestnut; we cannot overlook the presence of Sid Abouhom in the pedigree, as close-up as the 6th generation (great-great-great grandsire) combined on the same side of Thee Asil's pedigree, together with Rodania.
Sid Abouhom's type reminds me of a Thoroughbred racehorse, possessing the body structure that made him successful on the racetrack.
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Sid Abouhom (El Deree x Layla) |
While Dr. Ameen Zaher was not fond of this horse and of his subsequent use in the breeding program; General von Pettko-Szandtner felt that Sid Abouhom would correct the overall conformational flaws that he observed in the EAO breeding program. General von Szandtner wanted to breed a more functional horse, closer to the cavalry horses that he managed at Babolna in Hungary. While I can understand Dr. Zaher's feelings, Sid Abouhom was not a pretty horse, in the same way that *Morafic was pretty, however, we would not be talking about the golden chestnut beauty that was Thee Asil without him.
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