Ghuzayyil’s entry in the Aldahdah Index

Ghuzayyil was a famous desert-bred horses from Syria, whose bloodlines are present today in a number of modern pedigrees from Syria, including that of the stallion Hussam al-Shimal now in France. This is his entry in the Aldahdah Index:

GHUZAYYIL: a grey desert-bred stallion, born c. 1952; [no picture available]

Strain: Saqlawi Nijm al-Subh, of the marbat owned by the Maraziq clan of the Shammar tribe, also called Saqlawi Marzaqani.

Sire: Hamdani al-Jhini a Hamdani Simri of the Shammar tribe, a celebrated horse among the Bedouins, sometimes simply referred to as al-Jhini; sire of sire: Hamdani Simri of Shammar, known as al-Malkhukh, also a famous horse; dam of sire: Hamdaniyat al-Jhini of Shammar;

Dam: a Saqlawiyah Marzaqaniyah, from the Maraziq clan of the Shammar tribe. According to Fawaz al-Rajab, a horse merchant from Hims, who told Hazaim al-Wair, who told me, the dam of Ghuzayyil and the dam of Mawj al-Athir were maternal sisters.

Racing and Breeding Career: Ghuzayyil raced in Beirut starting in 1956, in the ownership of the Marquis Musa de Freije and won at least eight races (he is recorded as having won eight races in one of my notebooks, based on notes I took from one of the Hippodrome de Beyrouth’s racing records); his reputation as a racehorse eventually reached the Bedouin clan who had bred him, and they reacquired the horse to use him on their mares; according to Radwan Shabariq, a horsebreeder in Aleppo, who told me, he covered one hundred mares in his first year as a lead stallion with the Shammar tribe (this is perhaps an exaggeration but is noneless revealing of the fame Ghuzayyil had achieved as a racehorse of authenthic descent). Ghuzayyil was later owned by Alaa al-Din al-Jabiri of Aleppo, where he covered many more mares.

Progeny: He is the sire of Malakah, the Saglawia Jedrania of Ibn Zubayni dam of Al-Abjar; of the Kuhaylan Krush of Alaa al-Din al-Jabiri, whose dam was one of the mares of Mayzar Abdul Mohsen al-Jarba; of Basmet Farah, an Umm Arqub; of the Kuhaylan Mimrah of Hamkah; and of the Umm Arqub (perhaps same mare as Basmet Farah) dam of the mare Uswarah and the granddam of the mare Neamah bred by Amin Yakan of Aleppo, among other horses. All these were bred during Ghuzzayil’s stay in Aleppo with Jabri. It is highly likely that Ghuzayyil is also represented in the pedigree of many more pedigrees of desert-bred Syrian horses, under the generic strain name “Saqlawi Marzaqani – Shammar” during his stay with the Bedouin clan that bred him and repurchased him after his racing career was over.

Comments: According to Fawaz al-Rajab [who told Hazaim al-Wair, who told me], who claims his uncle bought Ghuzayyil from the Maraziq clan of Shammar, the horse had a very thick tail, was extremely pretty, and beat several part-bred horses on the Hippodrome de Beyrouth — the Beirut racetrack. Fawaz also remembers that Ghuzayyil won a horse beauty show in Lebanon.