A hidden gem in Egyptian Arabian bloodlines?
Even the otherwise ultra-standardized pedigrees of Egyptian Arabians can yield a surprise or two. That of the mare Bint Nafaa and her descendents, with their cross to El Gadaa, a horse bred by Fad’aan Bedouin leader Miqhim ibn Mahayd, and later raced in Egypt and used by Hamdan stables, is a case in point.
The stallion Ghandour (ca. 1930) is another. Ghandour was reportedly sired by Merzug, a good racehorse owned by Mahmoud al-Itribi at one point, out of Lady Anne Blunt’s Jazia (Sahab x Jauza), a Kuhaylat al-Krush. Jauza is one of my all-time favorite Asil mares judging from the one picture I have seen of her. Ghandour was also raced by Itribi Pasha before being used by the Royal Agricultural Society (RAS) of Egypt as a stallion. The RAS History book has him as “an imported Arab and very good racer, owned by the late Mahmoud Pasha El Itribi”.
A quick search on Itribi Pasha on the net yielded meager results: a list of Egyptian Pashas mentions him as a notable from the Daqahliya farming area by the Nile delta, who was granted the title of Pasha in 1919. I recall seeing a photo of him somewhere.
That said, Ghandour was the sire of El Garie, out of the 100% Blunt mare Zareefa (Kazmeen X Durra). El Garie was in turn the sire of Khairia. The latter produced a mare by Gassir (Kheir x Badia) who in turn produced two mares by Hassan (Nazeer x Hemmat), one of whom produced a son by Emad (El Araby x Ebeda). This pretty much takes us into our times, which means that Jauza might have some descendants alive today. Ghandour was also the sire of Khattab, a good race horse, and of many other horses, which you can find in Pearson and Mols excellent book, “The Arabian Horse Families of Egypt“.
I am going to track this Merzug down.. He can’t keep hiding for that long.
I ran across El Garie recently myself when researching some of Egypt’s private breeders. The EAO mare Khairia produced Nayera by Gassir and this mare was in the ownership of Ahmed Sherif, who is the grandson of Ali Pasha Sherif (see pic pg. 82 Authentic Arabian Bloodstock, Forbis). Ahmed has bred some interesting horses many outcross to most mainstream EAO breeding. The two Hassan daughters were Hanan 1966 and Heba 1971. Heba produced Dalila (x Ibn Anter 1963) who went to the Police Academy where there are stallions and mares carrying a line to El Garie. Three mares from this line are five and six years old, one sired by a Dalila son (Toot) thus doubling lines to El Garie, so his breeding is still present in Egypt.
That’s a relief. I take it Ghandour he is not accepted by the Pyramid Society as Straight Egyptian, pretty much like El Gadaa the sire of Bint Nafaa. Am I correct?
Not that it is the official source of definitions, but in the AHA Datasource it shows El Garie as Pyramid Society Straight Egyptian. But when you look up Bint Nafa’a, (El Gadaa x Nafa) there is no Pyramid Society designation shown. Since the Pyramid Society requires that an import be acceptable to registration here, perhaps an El Garie descendant has already arrived?
I think that’s Ibn Heba by Emad, but I am not sure.
Ibn Heba was imported by Bill Dudley. We saw him at the Egyptian Event. His dam is the EAO Heba (Ibn Hafiza x Nazeera) not the Ahmed Sherif Heba (Hassan x Nayera). AHW magazine had mistakenly published his pedigree as being out of the Ahmed Sherif Heba but that was incorrect. Al Khamsa and AHA both give the EAO Heba as the dam.
I was relying on the AHW magazine. Relying on second hand sources can be a problem…