Busima: the Egyptian racehorse that Raswan wanted?
On Bogdan Zientarski and Carl Raswan’s expedition to Syria and Iraq, to find horses for Prince Roman Sanguszko’s Gumniska Stud, one of their first stops was Egypt. There, they saw a number of horses from different studs and stables, including the Astraled son Rustem, the Crabbet-bred mare Bint Riyala, a grey son of the Sheykh Obeyd mare Serra, the dark chestnut Ibn Rabdan, and a desert-bred stallion, Schammar.
They also toured the racing stables of Cairo, and found there a filly which Raswan thought very beautiful. He wrote about her in glowing terms to Prince Sanguszko, hoping for extra funds to buy her:
From the beginning I said, that I do not expect to find a stallion or mare in Egypt (or Syria) which might “suit” Mr. Z. (& consequently you too). However, we “discovered” an unusual mare. – She seems to be the “sister” to Nedjari. A mare of the very same type & breeding. – From among several hundred (perhaps 600) horses which we have seen this one mare is outstanding. She is the type which, when brought to Poland, people will point to her & say: “What an Arab!” and neither Mr. Z. nor I would be ashamed to buy her or show her to anybody in Europe. She is 3 years, a chestnut, has been on the racetrack and won. She is exactly what we want: type, breeding, head, legs, tail carriage, broodmare & race mare “rolled” into one … We found a Diamond right at the beginning of the journey & we need now only to find the 6 yearlings & a stallion to make Mr. Z. perfectly happy. He said already, that he calls his trip so far successful enough, that he would not be ashamed to return with this mare only, as everybody in Poland would envy him (& in consequence Your Highness) for such a mare. – Of course, I do not “handle” your money & cannot buy her, but Mr. Zietarski is double careful, he will write to you about it & ask you for enough money to be send to Baghdad. – I hope you do it, as I want you to own this mare – a picture of breeding & blood.
From Monika Luft, 2011, ‘Camels’ milk for the stallion, armored vests for the Bedouins’.
Prince Sanguszko, however, did not send the money, and the filly did not make her way to Poland. But who was she?
In Zientarski’s account of the journey, published in Jezdziec i Hodowca (1931, nos. 37-44), he mentions three fillies from the racing stables of Abd-El-Guab: a three-year-old bay, a four-year-old chestnut, and a three-year-old golden chestnut with a blaze, named Busima. Not only does Zientarski describe her as very beautiful, with lovely action, but he also says that her pedigree is the best of the three, as her parents come from Ali Pasha Sharif’s stud.
Of course, given that Ali Pasha Sharif died in 1897, it is almost impossible for horses foaled in his stud to have produced a filly in 1927. The question, I suppose, is whether by ‘parents’ Zientarski means, more loosely, ‘ancestors’, or whether Busima’s pedigree was being talked up.
The question of exactly how Busima was related to Ali Pasha Sharif’s horses aside, it seems as though she might be the unknown chestnut that Raswan wanted to buy. Both fillies are the same colour, the same age, and racehorses. Busima has an illustrious pedigree, and Raswan praises the breeding of his unknown chestnut. Zientarski may have liked Busima himself; he certainly included a photograph of her in his Jezdziec i Hodowca article, though in the caption she is called Buzina.
Busima is an attractive and flashy filly, and it is tempting to compare the photograph of her with Raswan’s praise of her type, her head, her tail carriage. I do not know what her race record was like, though, but if it can be dug up, it would be interesting to compare it to Raswan’s statement that the chestnut filly had raced and won.
Caryn Rogosky had copies of the early Egyptian racing records. I think she gave a copy to Joe Ferriss. There may be a chance to find her there.
Buzina sounds like a misspelling by Raswan. A common Arabic name is Busina, pronouned Busayna, written Buthayna.
Oh, that would be fantastic, if she could be found. And it’s interesting to learn that her name was more likely Buthayna – I was wondering about the inconsistency in the way her name was spelled in the article.
What do you make of Raswan’s statement that the mare he admired was “of the very same type & breeding” as Nedjari? The Nedjari who stood at Gumniska was bred in France, from French lines, and not from Ali Pasha Sherif stock.
Yes, him: https://www.allbreedpedigree.com/nedjari
I’ve just double checked to see what language Raswan’s correspondence was in, to be sure that this wasn’t a translation issue, and he wrote in English to Sanguszko. I’m not really certain what to make of the comparison to Nedjari. First Raswan says she is the same type as Nedjari, and then talks about her being the type of horse to draw admiring attention, so perhaps that is meant by “the very same type” – attractive and obviously Arabian?
As for breeding, well, I suppose it’s possible that French-bred horses were racing in Egypt at the time, and that Raswan is referring to one of them. Zientarski’s filly already has issues with her given pedigree, as it is improbable that her parents were from Ali Pasha Sherif’s own stud. Is Raswan talking his chestnut diamond up, in terms that he thinks will appeal to Sanguszko? Is she supposed to be of French stock? How exactly is Zientarski’s Busima related to Ali Pasha Sharif’s horses? I don’t have the answers to these questions, but maybe there is more information out there.
Honestly, I don’t know that a secure identity for Raswan’s three year old chestnut can be pinned down, but I did find the parallels between his filly and Busima interesting. At any rate, I am hopeful that at some point more information on Busima comes to light!
Raswan is basically arm-twisting the Polish prince here. He knew the prince liked both Nedjrai and APS blood, and is telling him that he has found exactly what the Prince wants, and that it’s time to open the wallet.
Well not Ali Pasha Sherif stock but Nedjari has some egyptian “Pasha” blood being a grandson of Danbik from the Himalaya (Nedjdi & La Duchesse) tail female. The dam of Nedjdi, Kenhlan Yemani, was presented to the french King Louis Philippe in 1842 by a group of emissaries of Mohammed Ali Pasha. By the way, this visit made great impression in the french tabloids and there is numerous and funny articles regarding this diplomatic visit. This mare was in foal by an Arabian stallion and gave birth to Nedjdi at the Royal Stud of Saint Cloud after her arrival giving birth to Nedjdi. I have taken a picture of the drawing of the mare and her foal made by Victor Adam for the Royal Stud of Saint Cloud Studbook.
Nedjdi eventually was one of the few survivors after the troubles that occurred when the last french King was disposed and flew away from France. He made his way to the National Studs. His only purebred foal was not used at stud and his bloodline was lost.
His survival in the french Studbook is only through his daughter Himalaya who’s dam was incorrectly re-registered as an Arabian mare (she is a Hungarian/Persian cross) and a source of part-bred Arabian ancestry in our French Studbook.
After WWI there was a lack of purebred stallions available for the French breeders and they used Danbik on a couple of Asil mares, mostly by racing enthusiasts like e. Camentron.
IMO Raswan certainly was aware of the Egyptian ancestry of Nedjari. He most likely had seen the very same drawing of Nedjdi…which to be fair bears quite a striking resemblance to what could have looked like the filly Buthayna as a foal (including the markings). Or maybe he was ordered to look for something similar to this drawing…
The Egyptian part of Nedjari’s pedigree is certainly overwhelmed here though as you can easily notice. But it is correct to say it is partly Egyptian, even if not Asil.
What I do find more interesting is how Raswan would consider Mohammed Ali Pasha’s horses related to Ali Pasha Sherif’s.
She certainly looks built for speed the long forearm and extremely way laid shoulder short topline and the long underline of her body…i would bet on her
Amelie, in my opionion, you are giving Raswan too much credit on this one.
He is the one who famously said that *Exochorda was Mesaoud’s own sister, and went so far as inventing a pedigree for *Exochorda that mirrors that of Mesaoud all the way up to the fourth generation.
Carl Raswan made some important contributions, no question, but he also sometimes painted with a broad brush. For example, he published a picture of Ibn Hanad in volume I of the Raswan Index with the statement that Ibn Hanad had no Mu’niqi ancestry, despite the presence of the Mu’niqi stallion *Haleb in Ibn Hanad’s registered pedigree. Some people have explained this by saying Raswan must have had a different, alternate pedigree for Ibn Hanad that he never explained to anyone, or explained this by saying that Raswan must have considered *Haleb to be a different kind of Mu’niqi that wasn’t the same as other Mu’niqi. I think Raswan just made an oversight.
Maybe ?? it is pretty hard to tell what he did knew…what he mixed up and what was fantasy. Especialy for us Westerners…Those drawings must have been known though since at least one of them : the drawing of the stallion Dahman as been used by the Pyramid Society and other relatives to picture their strain theory related to type. Who found it and provided it to them is an interesting question…it was a pretty hard studbook to find even for a french girl ?