Mawj al-Athir’s entry in the Aldahdah Index

If you follow this blog regularly, then you must have already heard about the chestnut desert-bred stallion Mawj al-Athir: he is in the pedigree of the bay stallion from Syria, Hussam al-Shimal, now in France. He is also the sire of the pretty mare below, whose photo you have already seen before.

Joe Achcar also scanned and sent this old Lebanese newspaper clipping from Nov. 11, 1954, which has a picture of Mawj al-Athir on the racetrack, with the mention, in French: The “strongest horse of the Middle East”.  Note the mention in the clipping of two other desert-bred asils, about which there will be more on this blog, soon: Chatt el-Arab and Ghaddar.

Now here is Mawj al-Athir’s entry in the ‘Aldahdah Index’:

MAWJ AL-ATHIR: a chestnut desert-bred Asil stallion [photo available];

Strain: Saglawi Nijm al-Subh, of the marbat owned by the Maraziq clan [or guild] of the Shammar tribe; the strain is also called Saqlawi Marzaqani.

Sire: a Saqlawi Marzaqani; according to Abd al-Qadir Hammami, an old horse merchant from Aleppo, his sire was al-Marzaqani al-Adham (“the black Marazaqani”), a celebrated stallion of the Saqlawi Marzaqani strain, bred by the Maraziq clan of the Shammar tribe, used by them as a stallion and later taken by the ’Anazah tribe; according to Fawaz al-Rajab, an older horse merchant from Hims, the sire of Mawj al-Athir was also his maternal brother, then a yearling, who bred his own dam by accident. He also mentioned that Mawj al-Atheer’s brother later broke a shoulder, which would mean his sire is the famous Saqlawi Marzaqani Abu-Kitf. According to Radwan Shabariq, [both of the potential sires of Mawj al-Athir, as per the above] Abu-Kitf and the black Marzaqani were maternal haf-brothers. Also according to Fawaz al-Rajab, Mawj al-Athir and another great desert-bred racehorse, Ghuzayyil, were sons of two sisters.

Dam: a Saqlawiyah Marzaqaniyah from the Maraziq clan of the Shammar;

Racing and Breeding Career: Mawj al-Athir raced successfully in Beirut and was later bought by the Lebanese Ministry of Agriculture for breeding.

Progeny: Mawj al-Athir was the sire of the beautiful grey Kuhayla Nawwaqiyah mare “Bint Mawj al-Athir”, dam of my father’s “Nawwaqiat ‘Akkar” (herself by Achhal). He left no other produce I know of in Lebanon. His line survives in Syria however through his son, Amali, the Kuhaylan Khdili of Abu Tannus in Aleppo.