Davenport Conservancy statement on Tripoli/Hanad sireline

The statement below was shared with Davenport Arabian Horse Conservancy (DAHC) supporters:

The mission of the Davenport Arabian Horse Conservancy is “to enhance public awareness of the Arabian Horse as Homer Davenport knew it.” Our horses are central to that vision and function; we are responsible for their healthy management and their genetic conservation. We pursue studies of the desert traditions as sources become available, and also the history of the individuals and groups of horses as they move from tribal hands into those of the west.

Homer Davenport made information widely available about individual horses, their origin, and in many cases their use and travels after importation. We have less detail directly from the successor program of Peter B Bradley’s Hingham Stock Farm, but early registration records have been preserved.

The Conservancy applies scholarly standards to historical questions, and takes advantage of scientific advances as they become applicable. Coat color inheritance principles helped to uncover the case of Halawa, whose recorded parentage was incompatible with her coat color, and clarified the switched identities of Petra and Halloul, registered as mature mares, where again coat color called attention to the problem.

More recently the application of mitochondrial DNA testing, specific to comparison of direct dam lines, uncovered another identity switch of the mares Freda and Saleefy, which must have occurred between leaving Massachusetts by train and arriving at the Diamond Bar Ranch in California. This finding again changed straight Davenport pedigrees.

In 2026 the Conservancy, with assistance from private owners, contributed samples to the expanding Y chromosome study of Arabian male lines at the veterinary school in Vienna, Austria. Among the lines tested were those of the Davenport sires Harara and Hanad, registered as sons of *Deyr. The Conservancy sampled descendants of Harara through two sons of Antez, his only source; and of Hanad through two of his own sons. Sampling two branches of each line is meant to strengthen the evidence for correct pedigrees.

The two Antez lines matched each other; the two Hanad lines matched each other. The Antez horses did not match the Hanad ones. The simplest explanation of this finding is that either Harara or Hanad was not actually sired by *Deyr.

The Craver Farms files of early registration and transfer records present a discrepancy which can explain this finding. When Hanad’s dam Sankirah was transferred from Bradley’s ownership to that of Mrs J G Winant, in December 1921, we read “The above Mare was bred to Stallion Azra no. 32 on the 28 day of June, 1921.” Later, on Sankirah’s colt Hanad’s registration application, the sire named is Deyr no. 33, the breeding date is the same, and the foaling date is May 29, 1922, consistent with normal gestation from that breeding date. Both forms were signed by Martin Towle, the manager of Hingham Stock Farm.

The skeleton of *Deyr is known to have been preserved, so direct DNA testing remains a possibility, but at present the indication is that Hanad was sired by *Azra. This finding documents a direct sire line from the 1906 Davenport importation that was thought to be lost, not only in straight Davenports, but in the Arabian breed at large.

This notification will be shared with the Arabian Horse Association and Al Khamsa Inc.