Mas-huj, Ubayyan Sharrak stallion from Syria

The 1983 stallion Mas-huj stood at the farm of Basil Jadaan near Damascus for one season, when this photo was taken. Basil gave a copy of the photo to Hazaim Alwair who published it online for some time. Mas-huj was from the city of Hama, from an old lineage of Ubayyan Sharrak tracing to the Sbaa tribe.

I remember Mashuj well, from seeing him in Hama year in year out during the late 1980s and early 1990s at the farm of Fuad al-Azem.

His sire was a Saqlawi Jadran of Ibn Zubayni from another old Hama lineage (that of the family of al-Khani). He raced in Beirut under the name of Zad al-Rakib. My father recalls seeing him — the Saqlawi — pull a cart on the streets of Beirut in the early 1980s after his racing career was over. I was in the car apparently but too young to remember. 

 

4 Replies to “Mas-huj, Ubayyan Sharrak stallion from Syria”

  1. He’s a very handsome horse (and his tack is splendid too) – how would his sire have landed up pulling a cart after being a racehorse?

    1. That was the fate of racehorses that were not good enough to become sires of future racehorses. He stood no chance against the part-bred Arabs from Iraq that he was racing against.

  2. Shame that any pure Arabian ends up being dumped in the streets! … The 2nd half of the 20th century was catastrophic to the Arabian Horse desert lines and breeding traditions.

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