The link below leads to a video from the British Pathé’s Reuters Archive, showing parts of a competition held in Beirut: LEBANON: BEIRUT: HORSE PARADE OF BEST ARAB STALLIONS. (1959) The British Pathé’s description of the video is given below: Background: The proud and nobly-bred Arab stallion came under scrutiny, October 10, during a competition in Beirut, Lebanon, to select the most perfect animal of the breed. Kuwaits’ ruler, Sheikh Abdullah Sabah, provided strong competition with horses from his Arab stock, but failed to outclass the entry from Iraq. According to age, the horses were placed in one of three sections, Winner of the section for animals over three years of age, was an Arab stallion, owned by Mr. Mirrahi of the Lebanon. A three-year-old Arab horse from Iraq won the intermediate class, for Mr. Mikkaoui. Iraq also claimed first place in the class for the under three-year-old, when a horse owned by Henri Pharaon was chosen. Of interest are two of Edouard’s previous posts on Arab horses from Lebanon: *LEBNANIAH ROSTER PROPOSAL TO AL KHAMSA (2009): Mentions the al-Mi’rabi family. Cf. “Mr. Mirrahi of the Lebanon” in the British Pathé text above; the British Pathé descriptions do not always have…
I am happy to see a second photo of this horse. It appeared in a July 1968 article on the horses of Lebanon in the French magazines “Plaisirs Equestres”, which Christele Seranne shared on Facebook. The horse is Hicham, a racehorse born in Iraq, who raced in Lebanon in the ownership of Henri Pharaon. He was a part-bred Arabian, with anywhere from 12.5% to 25% English Thoroughbred blood on the sire side. His dam was said to be a Ma’naqiyah Sbayliyah. He won many, many races, before the Lebanese government chose him to become a breeding stallion. Many breeders sent their asil mares to him, which contributed to the ruin of the Lebanese asil arabian horse breeding program. His get raced well too, and several of them became stud horses too. Some of his get were exported to the USA, where they were registered in the AHA (and hence by WAHO).