In my blog, 2 Questions, I referenced an article written by Dr. Hans J. Nagel, The Story of the Noble Mares of the Katharinenhof: Breeding with Criteria, published by Tutto Arabi. Do you know that somewhere in the sixties, Dr. Nagel was invited by the Minister of Agriculture in Egypt, to advise the Egyptians on a national poultry production program? It was on this trip that Dr. Nagel would meet Dr. Ameen Zaher, the Deputy minister, who would end up working closely with Dr. Nagel on this poultry project. Dr. Ameen Zaher was also the breeding advisor to the EAO and when he learned of Dr. Nagel's interest in Arabian horses, he invited Dr. Nagel to tour El Zahraa. It would change Dr. Nagel's perspective of the Arabian horse forever. The 2 men formed a close relationship, which eventually would impact Arabian horse breeding at the Babolna State Stud, Marbach State Stud and Katharinenhof. In the article, Dr. Nagel calls Dr. Zaher, "a very likable person."
In April of 1947, way before the time when Dr. Zaher and Dr. Nagel first met, Dr. Zaher visited several Arabian Horse breeding farms in the United States. One of the farms he visited was Selby Arabian Stud, near Portsmouth, Ohio. Dr. Zaher, recorded his impressions from the visit in book form, Arabian Horse Breeding and the Arabians of America, published by Cairo University Press. Within the book, Dr. Zaher shared his impression of *Raffles,
"Raffles, though smaller than the average Arab, yet he is one of the best classical type Arabs I ever saw. With the exception of a slightly bigger nose, Raffles has a classic type of Arabian head."
In his most recent book, The Arabian: Nature's Creation and the Art of Breeding, published by Nawal Media, Dr. Nagel writes that *Raffles introduced elegant Saqlawi type in America, producing spectacular results when combined with the existing population of Arabian horses and establishing an enduring legacy in breeding programs, like that of Al-Marah Arabians and Gainey's Fountainhead Arabians.
Both Dr. Nagel and Dr. Zaher share an appreciation for the horses bred by the EAO during the 1950s and 1960s. How would the influence of *Raffles, whose popularity during this time period was also at its zenith, combine with the Egyptian lines?
- 1943: Aaraf (out of Aarah by Ghadaf)
- 1944: Aarafa (out of Aarah by Ghadaf)
- 1945: Aaraq (out of Aarah by Ghadaf)
- 1946: Aarief (out of Aarah by Ghadaf)
- 1947: Aarafla (out of Aarah by Ghadaf)
- 1946: Tut Ankh Amen (out of *Roda)
- 1947: Star of Egypt (out of *Roda)
- 1948: Joye (out of *Roda)
- 1949: Faraff (out of Natafa by Farrab)
- 1951: Bint Aziza (out of *Aziza)
- 1951: Victor Hugo (out of Gazyya by *Zarife)
- 1951: Rose of Raswan (out of Zareyna by *Zarife)
- 1953: Freni (out of Dahama by Fad Zarka)
- 1953: Sotep (out of Zareyna by *Zarife)
I found the 5 full siblings out of Aarah, a Ghadaf daughter (he is a maternal sibling to Gulastra), to be interesting, as were the two Babson stallions, who combine *Fadl with *Bint Bint Durra (a mare whose influence is more scarce) with additional Skowronek blood on the mare side of the pedigree.
It's also interesting to consider that the top-crossing of *Raffles onto the non-straight *Zarife daughters like Zareyna and Gazyya, hugely successful, yielding individuals who would become important breeding horses for other breeders like the Munsons and Rose of Raswan, Sotep and Jeanette Morrill of Bear Claw Ranch, James Rooker, the Clark family of JB Farm and Don Ford of Lancer Arabians and Victor Hugo with George Iverson and Paul & Birdie McDannald.
However, with the straight Egyptian mare, *Aziza, things were a little different. Alice Payne admired the mare and purchased *Aziza from General Dickinson of Travelers Rest, when *Aziza was already a mature mare, in foal to one of the General's stallions. She lost the foal and Alice Payne bred her to Rasraff (*Raffles x Rasmina) twice, producing the stallion Aziz and Ibn Rasraff, whom Alice believed to be the better horse. When she bought *Raffles from Selby, she bred *Aziza to him, producing Bint Aziza, whom she eventually bred to Rafferty (*Raffles x Masrufa), producing Asil Bint Bint Aziza. Alice must have not been happy with either Bint Aziza and her daughter Asil Bint Bint Aziza because she sold both of them. Bint Aziza went to Tish Hewitt in foal with Asil Rafziza, while Asil Bint Bint Aziza went to the Munsons. Later, Alice would admit to her friends that *Aziza was a disappointment, not the same mare she had admired from afar.
It's interesting to consider that *Aziza not only came from the same breeding program in Egypt, that of Prince Mohamed Aly Tewfik, but she was selected, purchased and imported by W.R. Brown for his Maynesboro Stud, along with the stallion *Zarife and the mares, *Hamida, *Hamama and *Roda, whose beauty was widely acknowledged, earning her a 1933 US Reserve National Champion mare title. Bred to *Raffles, *Roda, like the *Zarife daughters, produced excellent horses of both genders.