Modern horses that carry a distinct inheritance from these old types pop up in both Crabbet and Egyptian lines. Tall bays, browns and even blacks that are smooth and fine, if not pretty, owe much to Astraled. The smaller, prettier Ahmar inheritance is also found all over the world, together with a few compact Azrek related lines in other colours. Indeed Azrek's type appears to be less colour linked than Queen of Sheba, if you are able to divorce him from Ahmar.
One such horse was Abu Zeyd (called Lal-I-Abdar in England). He is most often associated with his sire, Mesaoud, probably because of his colour. However, as with Ahmar, if you imagine him coloured in grey, his debt to Azrek becomes much more apparent (like many Azrek progeny, his dam was actually bay). Certainly his reputation for producing lovely short, deep heads was a distinctly Azrek trait. His legacy is still to be found in some of the Doyle and CMK Arabians in the USA.
The chestnut line most often associated with Azrek is that of the mare Rissla in England. This is predominantly a legacy of movement however, although Rissla does occasionally contribute to the survival of a more Azrek type, in combination with other lines. Her own looks are usually associated with her Rodania female line.
The one notable case where Rissla has been combined with other Ahmar blood, and seems to have reinforced that look, is the family of Farette. Farette carried two close crosses to Rissla plus two further lines to Ahmar, via her grandam Shabryeh, and this is the type that she is known for. She was a small bay with fine, smooth lines and extreme movement. The dry, desert type, the movement and the bay colour are all remarkably persistent traits with Farette's sons Fari II and Bey Shadow both leaving a strong legacy plus elegant contributions from daughters such as Farosa, family group winner at the AHS National show.
In U.S. pedigrees, the type seems to be owed to the Astraled granddaughter Ferda, of Kellogg stud fame, and the Ahmar granson Berk. The latter enters many CMK pedigrees through his daughters and half sisters bred at Maynesboro. This branch of the Queen of Sheba type is often buried by the use of Rodania, Nasik and Skowronek line stallions, but not always. The Queen is obviously alive and well in the USA as well.
Pictured right: PERSIMMON (St Simon x Kazra by Mikeno) inherits his type from the Berk daughter Safarjal, foundation mare of the Courthouse Stud.Bill Clarke's Courthouse stud, in England, was founded with mares such as the double Ahmar bay Safarjal (like Rissla she was sired by Berk). Her son Sainfoin was bred back to other Berk daughters such as Rangha and mares from the Bereyda line, full sister to Berk's dam Bukra. In short many of the Courthouse horses were intensely bred to Ahmar. In the stud's last days the little bay St Simon sold to Brazil for a, then, unprecedented sum. Fortunately a few precious foals were produced before he left including Persimmon (from Kazra), a champion sire who often passed on his colour, type and movement.
In Australia the Sotamm grandson, Raisuli, has proved an important contributor through just a few daughters. They carried multiple lines to Azrek via Ahmar and Rafyk. Several of these daughters ended their days at Mrs Maclean's Fenwick stud where they were bred predominantly to Rakib, a grey Skowronek grandson with close lines to both Berk and Selima. Many of these favoured the grey Skowronek look of their sire but nonetheless were more than capable of throwing back to the pretty bay Ahmar/ Azrek type in some of their progeny. Baz (Skowronek x Barada II by Raisuli) produced his fair share of pretty bright bays, such as the lovely mare Finvola (from Florizelle). Rakib himself produced the lovely bay mare Helawi (from Carlina), who seems to have taken after Rakib's own dam, Rythama, an elegant bay grandaughter of both Selima and Berk.Most of these Fenwick mare lines were bred to Riffal at one time or another. Riffal was a very tall, smooth horse (some 16hh records claim). He was dark bay with very little white and a double cross to Astraled much in evidence with one line to Ahmar not so apparent. A prolific sire, known by many for the combinations produced from his daughters bred back to the Silver Vanity son Sindh. This is probably more of a comment on the heavy use of Sindh than any indication that he did not work well with other bloodlines.
Pictured at left: BANDOM (Banderol x Domtif) bay stallion. Sire of many champions in Australia. J. Martens photo from Australia's Crabbet Arabian Horse Annual 1990.
One of the superstars of the Sindh/ Riffal cross was the bay stallion Banderol, a good show horse and outstanding sire. He was the most extreme version of the typical look of these bloodlines, being tall, smooth and refined with the long, arched neck normally only seen in paintings. He sired a sleek, elegant type that won many championships for the Arabian Park Stud where he resided.
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