So many hopes pinned on Saralee

The best news for 2012 on the preservation front came yesterday from Hungary, and I am not quite over it yet. Preservation breeder Laszlo Kiraly was able to acquire a precious treasure: the 18 year old Hamdaniyah Simriyah mare Saralee El Shahin (Ansata Aly Jamil x Saree, by Salaa El Dine x Selmah by Shakhs x Sappho by Bleinheim), one of the two or three European asil descendants left to the Ali Pasha Sherif mare Sobha (Wazir x  Selma).

From a sheer preservation perspective, this mare is precious is so many ways: first, because of its tail female; second, because of the extraordinarily high amount of Ali Pasha Sherif bloodlines she carries through her great grand dam Sappho (Bleinheim x Selima by Bahram x Siwa II by Rheoboam) pictured below; third, because of the two lines she carries to the asil Courthouse Stud desert bred imports Nimr and Fedaan, who have virtually disappeared from the global asil gene pool (save for another line in South Africa to Nimr but also to the third Courthouse desert bred import Atesh); fourth, because of the last asil line left to the Blunt desert import Meshura; fifth, because this is the only asil Crabbet damline left in Europe…

I am so happy Laszlo was able to acquire this mare, and I wish him all the best in breeding her and reviving that glorious old line.. pictures of Saralee coming soon, says Laszlo.