After Pianosa and the iconic Pianissima, Polish breeding prematurely lost another mare from Janów’s well-known and respected “P” line. On March 30th, 2021, Pinga (Gazal Al Shaqab – Pilar / Fawor), who was on lease at the American Cedar Ridge Arabians stud, passed away. She was 17 years old, older than her cousins, but it would still be hard to consider her an age-old matron. She left a feeling of regret among admirers of the Arabian breed, who considered Pinga to be the leading ambassador of Janów Podlaski in recent years.

Good genes

The Szamrajówka family, descended from Biała Cerkiew of the count Branicki family, is undoubtedly one of the most flexible Polish dam lines. Its history and the achievements of its representatives, starting with Piewica, thanks to which the blood of Szamrajówka returned to Poland after World War II, through Pierzga, Pentoza, the charismatic multi-champion Pilarka, her daughter Pipi and granddaughter – the still present at Janów Palmeta, dam of Pinga’s mother Pilar’s and, of course, Pianosa and Pianissima, as well as many other mares and stallions, have been described in many articles and books. What was the position of bay Pinga in this long line of outstanding Arabian horses?

Her mother, the grey Pilar (Fawor – Pipi / Banat), currently owned by Al Shaqab stud, where Pinga’s sire Gazal Al Shaqab also comes from, was born by the Bug River in 1996. As a yearling she became Polish Junior Champion Mare. In 2010 she was exported to Qatar for the record sum of that auction – 240 thousand euro. In Poland she left not only Pinga, born in 2004, the 2005 Polish Junior Champion Mare and freshly decorated Senior Champion Mare, but also Pilarosa (by Al Adeed Al Shaqab), sold a few years later, in 2018, to the Czech Republic, for 133 thousand euro. Two of her other daughters, Pieta (by Gazal Al Shaqab) and Pinta (by Ekstern), left Poland earlier – they were purchased by Shirley Watts (Halsdon Arabians): the first of them in 2007 for 300,000 euro, the second in 2009 for half a million. Pilar gave her new owners seven produce (also by way of embryo transfer). However, not only fertility – before leaving, she gave birth to ten foals – turned out to be her advantage, but most of all the fact that she passed on type, charisma and spectacular movement to her offspring.

Pilar had someone to inherit good genes from. Her mother Pipi by Banat, daughter of the phenomenal Pilarka by Palas, European and World Champion, is also the mother of Pilar’s brother and sister: the stallion Pilot and the mare Pilica, dam of Palmeta by Ecaho, who today, after the departure of Pinga, holds, nomen omen, the palm of priority in the Janów herd. So it was not a coincidence, but an extremely successful mating. In turn for Pilar a particularly valuable partner turned out to be the Qatari stallion Gazal Al Shaqab. The result of this marriage was not only Pinga, but also other horses whose names are widely known, such as the above-mentioned Pieta or Pomian, used in Janów Podlaski.

Gazal Al Shaqab himself, whose pedigree was harmoniously combined with Egyptian, American and – through his mother Kajora – Polish blood, and who, together with his son Marwan Al Shaqab and his stable mate Al Adeed Al Shaqab, built the position of his maternal stud in the world, is an epochal sire in the latest history of Polish breeding, father of the unforgettable Pianissima or the wonderful Emandoria. Polish “Gazals” invariably enjoyed success with buyers and over the years not only brought considerable income to Polish breeding, but are also counted among the most valuable dams today.

Storming the shows

Pinga stood out from the very beginning, as evidenced by the titles of Polish Junior Champion Mare and Best in Show, which she won as a yearling, after the “start-up” at the shows in Bełżyce and Falbork, where she also triumphed. In Janów, during her class performance, she received an astronomically high final score of 96.33 points from the judges, including nine maximum marks for type, head and neck and movement. She drew attention especially with a sweeping trot with the suspension phase, which is a favorite thing of the Arabian breed fans. The head is not as exotic as that of her cousin Pianissima, but shapely, dry, with a large, dark eye, a long, nicely set neck and, it is worth noting, a perfect body – this is how we will remember Pinga. “Arabian Horse World” (No. 12/2005) wrote the following about her performance in Janów in 2005, when she charmed the judges and the audience: „Again the daughters of Gazal Al Shaqab dominated the competition, with three from Michalow and a nockout from Janow Podlaski scoring top honors. The big story of the show was the star of section B – the new Polish princess, Pinga. Closely bred to the 2004 international showring sensation Pianissima, Pinga is a near look-alike daughter of Gazal tracing tail female to the immortal Pilarka. Pinga could not have looked better on show day, and was shown to perfection by Janow Podlaski’s lead presenter Jan Trela. Her tail was flagged from the moment she hit the ring, accentuating her exceptional topline. Nostrils flared, she pranced in front of the judges for her presentation, exuding charm. When asked to trot off, Pinga proved to be even more formidable than Pianissima, covering ground with incredible power, lightness, cadence, and animation the entire circumference of the ring (…) Although not as complete or harmonious as her elder counterpart Pianissima, Pinga excels in length of neck, and athletic ability, making her a definite contender for top honors the world over as she matures”. This has come true. And a few years later, in 2010, observers were not less enthusiastic when Pinga appeared in Janów in order to win the laurels of the Polish National Championship as a senior. The same “Arabian Horse World” was delighted (No. 10/2010) that the 4-6 year old mares class turned into a “welcome home party” for Pinga, who had just returned from the USA a few weeks earlier. Her final score was impressive again: 93.67 points. The then president of PAHBA, Izabella Pawelec-Zawadzka, commented: “Pinga’s performance will remain, at least in my memory, an unforgettable, breathtaking experience. And this is largely thanks to Jan Trela. From the moment this couple entered the arena, time has seemed to have stopped. There was an incredible bond and a truly magical contact between man and the horse. It is difficult to express this electrifying atmosphere in words, but one thing is certain: the mare was ready to do anything for her human” (“Araby” No. 3/2010).

Between the National Championships that were so successful for Pinga, the Polish star also claimed (apart from victories in regional shows) the Senior Mare Reserve Championship in Scottsdale and the Top Ten Senior Mares title in Las Vegas in 2010. She was then leased by Frank & Frank Partners, founded by Frank Hennessey (Hennesssey Arabian LLC) and Frank Chisholm (Palmetto Arabians). According to the information we have found, the lease contract, brokered by Jerzy “George” Zbyszewski, provided for 50,000 dollars a year, four embryos for Americans and insurance for the amount of 500,000 USD. Greg Gallun prepared Pinga for competitions in the USA. However, it was not in the USA that she received her greatest honors, but in Europe.

Two years later, Pinga won the European Championships (Moorsele 2012) and the World Championships. “I still see Gianmarco Aragno standing in the middle of the arena and his tears falling when he looked at Pinga” – recalled her triumph in Paris Marek Trela, the then head of Janów Podlaski Stud (“Araby Magazine” No 1-2 / 2014). “There are groups of people that visit the stud who have nothing to do with horses, and they always gather close to horses such as Pinga, Pianissima and Palmeta,” he also said. – Even for laymen, the beauty, Arabian type and charisma of these horses are captivating. This is something universal. Beauty seems to be universal.” In 2015, Pinga, then on lease to Al Jawza Stud, was awarded the Reserve Championship in Aachen and the Platinum Champion Mare medal in Paris. At that point in her life Pinga was trained by Glenn Schoukens. “I’m honored to have been part of her life”, he tells us. “She was great fun to show and a sweetheart to have in the barn”. In January 2016, also in the colors of the Saudi lessee, Pinga won the PSAIAHF championship in Riyadh.

During her second stay in the USA she was also to be shown under the supervision of trainer David Boggs. She made only one appearance, on February 19th, 2021 in Scottsdale, finishing third in her class. Soon after, the fatal colic put an end to dreams of show successes for Cedar Ridge Arabians.

Where is Pinga, or media storm number 1

The Saudi stud farm Al Jawza, which leased Pinga in 2015 (the lease amount for the year was 180 thousand euro; the mare was insured for 500 thousand euro), led her to the above-mentioned successes in Paris (platinum) and Riyadh (gold). Nevertheless, that stage of Pinga’s career became a pretext for unprecedented hysteria, and as a result of a campaign, both in social and traditional media, against the participants of this venture under the slogan “Where is Pinga?”. Information about the alleged disappearance of the mare was given, in an almost psychotic atmosphere, by, among others: “Świat Koni” (April 15, 2016), “Gazeta Wyborcza” (April 19, 2016), “Fakt” (April 19, 2016), Onet website (April 21, 2016), “Dziennik Wschodni” (April 21, 2016). The mailbox of Al Jawza breeders was flooded with aggressive emails from Poland, and the intermediary between Janów and the Saudi client, Mateusz Leniewicz-Jaworski, became the object of an extremely disgusting hatred. Absurd accusations were made against him, and the scale of the hatred poured out on him was shocking even for the low standards of social media. Meanwhile, the mare soon returned home safe and sound. From the perspective of several years, it should be assessed that this media attack was aimed at starting a political row after the dismissal of three people in February 2016: Marek Trela from the position of the president of Janów Podlaski Stud, Jerzy Białobok from the position of the president of Michałów Stud and Anna Stojanowska, an official at the Agricultural Property Agency, supervising of state studs. This is how Mateusz Leniewicz-Jaworski recollects this situation today: “The owners of Al Jawza stud trusted me and entrusted me with negotiating the lease of Pinga. The contract was signed during the World Championships in Paris in November 2014. The amount of the lease was high, and the stud in Janów, which was in a difficult financial situation, obtained concrete help in closing its annual balance sheet. It is hard to hide that in 2014 the lease saved the financial result of Janów Podlaski Stud, for which Marek Trela thanked me. It was without a doubt the most successful lease of this mare: platinum in Paris, silver in Aachen, PSAIAHF gold in Saudi Arabia, silver in the A-class show in Qatar. Pinga returned to Janów in great shape and condition, with a delay of less than three months, caused by the quarantine and canceled flight, which forced her to quarantine again. The international scandal was caused by sensationalists associated with Anna Stojanowska and the dismissed presidents. To this day, it gives me a lot to think about. Conclusion? It’s not the horses that count for them”.

The last trip

In 2019, during the Winter Auction at Służewiec, Warsaw, the lease of Pinga was offered for the first (and last) time to the public. Then the sum of 40 thousand euro for the year of the lease, with the possibility of taking two embryos, one for the lessee, one for the owner, i.e. Janów Podlaski. The winner of the auction remained anonymous. Meanwhile, however, after more than half a year, on June 8th, 2020, Cedar Ridge Arabians (Minnesota), owned by Lara Ames, the owner of “Arabian Horse Times”, announced that it would lease Pinga. Lara Ames has a particularly emotional attitude towards Polish horses. It was she who bought Perfirka in 2014 (paying EUR 220,000), she also leased her daughter Perfinka, which was sold in 2020, after the end of the lease agreement, for a record amount of 1,250,000. euro to Saudi Arabia, to Alrajhiat Stud. Cedar Ridge lost the bid then, but welcomed Pinga, who was to remain in their care, at the Midwest Station II training facility until January 2022. Unfortunately, unexpected complications after the mare’s surgery due to a torsion of the intestines caused that Pinga is no longer with us.

Lara Ames told polskiearaby.com: „We loved our Polish horses. On our last family trip with my dad, we fell in love with Perfirka and Pinga. We purchased Perfirka in the auction that year. She is the love of our life and family. We will never sell her or an embryo. That is what us lead us to leasing Perfinka as my dad loved Perfirka so much that he wanted to get her daughter. We have since had two babies out of her that I will share the video of and the photo of Perfirka and her foal in the pasture. When it was time for Perfinka to go back, they approached us, not us approaching them to lease Pinga. Because of our love for her on our first visit we did. It was not about a dollar, but it was about trying to get some babies out of her to carry on her legacy. Our time with her was very short. But in that time my mother and her developed a special bond. Pinga, Perfirka, and Perfinka will always hold a special place in our heart. We are proud and honored to be a part of their life”.

The tragic development of events devastated the breeder: „I have cried tears for the last week everyday about, then when the accusations came in yesterday and I was devastated. I love all of my horses. I am not perfect, but I think if you asked anyone in the United States they would say my family tries to do a lot for the breed and love of the horse. I am devastated, but my love for Pinga will never change”.

The “Bloody Chapter”, i.e. media storm number two

In the quoted statement, Lara Ames referred to the storm that broke out in social media after the news of Pinga’s death. There was a fierce discussion on the Facebook of polskiearaby.com about what were the reasons for sending the mare on another lease and whether she was in good hands. At the same time, on the “Reinstate Anna Stojanowska, Jerzy Białobok & Marek Trela” profile, you could read a post about the “bloody chapter” in history (which we will come back to in a moment). An opposition member of parliament Joanna Kluzik-Rostkowska asked on Twitter: “She left, although she could give valuable foals in Janów. What sum is the contract for? Was there consent to flush the embryos? We will not give up with Dorota Niedziela. “

When asked by polskiearaby.com about the contract, the Janów stud replied that the mare was leased “on market terms”. We can therefore assume that the offer was similar to the one announced during the winter auction in 2019 and amounted to 40 thousand euro per year (I wrote about the fact that it was a sum grossly lower than the amount for which Pinga was leased by Al Jawza stud in my report from Służewiec). It does not take a complicated investigation to conclude that Cedar Ridge Arabians’ lease fee was not more than 80,000 euro. We remember that the lease contract contained a clause regarding the collection of two embryos per year, including one for Janów Podlaski. Therefore, the one-and-a-half-year contract could provide for the right to flush out three embryos, and one would still be for Janów. The mare was insured – according to the information reached by the portal – for the amount of 300,000 euro. According to the stud’s statement, the money will be transferred to the Janów Podlaski Stud account.

Who brokered the transaction? Here is what the stud office in Janów reported to the portal: “The lease transaction for Pinga was attended by Mrs. Anna Stojanowska on the part of the Janów Podlaski Stud and Mr. Gerald Kurtz, who coordinated the lease of the mare”. However, Anna Stojanowska strongly denies her participation. “I have no idea why someone from the Janów Podlaski Stud pointed me as the person responsible for the lease of Pinga. I had neither the authority nor the time to do so, ”she wrote in response to a question addressed to her on this matter. “Pinga was leased during the Winter Auction at the Racecourse in December 2019 and it happened on the initiative and as a result of the activities of Grzegorz Czochański, who was then the President of Janów Podlaski Stud. It was one of the strangest auctions I’ve ever seen in my life. The mare did not even reach the Racecourse then, apparently due to her very bad condition. The lease was auctioned in front of the people and the cameras by an “absent” client. “She further declares: “When I came to Janów in mid-April 2020, after more than four years of absence from the stud as a horse breeding advisor, I was only told that Pinga was going to be leased and that the contract negotiated by Mr. Czochański during the Winter Auction was being clarified. The recipient waited until the mare would foal and it was possible to wean the foal and transport the mare to the USA. So it happened. The foal was weaned right after the National Championships in August 2020 and the mare left after a few days ”. Then he concludes: “In my opinion the lease of Pinga was a mistake from every point of view: the welfare of the mare, the stud’s image, marketing and many others. And I did not hide my opinion. “The Janów stud, in turn, claims as follows: “The advisor at the time of signing the contract was Ms Anna Stojanowska, who performed the service under an agency contract”. We also know that Lara Ames received a proposal for Pinga when the lease of Perfinka was about to end, so she did not participate in the 2019 Służewiec auction, as well as the fact that Pinga arrived in the USA on August 5th (i.e. before the Pride of Poland auction, which took place August 9th). The head of the Janów Podlaski Stud during the events described here was Marek Gawlik and it was he who signed the lease agreement for Pinga.

At the request to refer to the post published on Twitter by Joanna Kluzik-Rostkowska, Anna Stojanowska replies: “The Members of Parliament did not contact me about Pinga. Anyway, there is nothing more than what I have written at the moment that I could say about it. Except for one thing, colic causes horses to die, whether they’re are of financial or purely emotional value.” So it turns out that – although it is no secret to anyone that both of the above-mentioned MPs are in constant contact with Anna Stojanowska (they were among others at a show co-organized by her in Michałowice) – in this case they did not ask her about their doubts. To the above-quoted comment posted on the fanpage “Reinstate Anna Stojanowska …”, the former advisor of Janów said: “I do not answer for entries on” Reinstate… “. Moreover, she stated: “Regardless of what I write in this answer, your portal will make me a “bloody murderer”. Meanwhile, it is on the fanpage, for which Anna Stojanowska, as she says, is not responsible, there is the afore mentioned post: “Mr. Czochański, Mr. Chalimoniuk, KOWR and Minister Ardanowski have today added a bloody chapter to the history of their activity in the studs”. This type of poetics is actually used, but just elsewhere, namely by the completely unknown to Anna Stojanowska, Facebook administrator, Irena Cieślak.

Let us also add that Pinga is not the first horse to die while on lease (it also happened that horses returned in poor health condition, for example, Wieża Mocy, which was diagnosed with crushed spinous processes of the spine). Let us remind you that in 2015 the sire of Perfinka, Esparto, expected to be Ekstern’s successor in Polish breeding, was euthanized at the age of 13 during his stay at Ismer Stud (Germany). Despite the vets’ efforts it was impossible to save him. As admitted by the then boss of Michałów, Jerzy Białobok, no other stallion appeared that could take over Ekstern’s duties; the greater the loss was the premature death of his son Esparto. However, no one used this fact for political purposes (incidentally, the lease fee was only EUR 7,500; the stallion was insured for EUR 200,000 and compensation in this amount was paid to Michałów Stud). The fate of Pinga was different, as she got into politics twice – the second time her death became a pretext for a political brawl. However, in a few years, when emotions subside, we will primarily remember her contribution to breeding.

Mother of dams

As indicated by prof. Krystyna Chmiel, Pinga’s greatest merit is that she was the mother of dams. “Her breeding potential has been used,” she says. “And her offspring have far more virtues than just being descended from a great star. In this case, you can look not only at the paper, but also at the horse.”

Pinga produced a total of 13 offspring (some of them by embryo transfer): seven stallions and six mares. We learned from the representative of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for breeding, Tomasz Chalimoniuk, that two embryos were collected from her in the USA. For now, however, it is not known whether foals will be obtained from both.

According to prof. Chmiel, Pinga best combined with the stallion Eden C. She passed on excellent movement to her offspring above all. Particularly noteworthy are Piniata, Paterna and Petula, who made themselves known as great performers at shows and promising brood mares. About Piniata prof. Chmiel has the highest praise: “Her movement and topline – one of the best I have ever seen.” Born in 2011, Piniata, daughter of Eden C, in 2015 followed in the footsteps of her mother, winning the title of the Polish National Senior Champion Mare, and then the Best in Show title. First she gave her home stud four stallions; however, in 2021 she became the mother of a filly by El Omari. Hopefully there is a long breeding career ahead of her. Her full sister Paterna is the Reserve Champion Mare from Białka from 2013 and the Reserve Champion Mare from Janów Podlaski (2014). Today she is the mother of one stallion and the promising Paradnica by Pomian, born in 2018, as well as a filly by Equator from 2020. In turn, Petula (by Kahil Al Shaqab) placed in the top five of the European Yearling Fillies Championship in Verona in 2015. In 2019 and 2020 she gave birth to colts, but – as the example of Piniata shows – you need to be patient, and the time for fillies will come.

There is no doubt that Pinga has won a prominent place among the representatives of the Szamrajówka family, over many generations. Will any of her successors be able to match her?

Pinga’s offspring registered in the Polish Arabian Stud Book:

– 2011 filly Piniata by Eden C
– 2012 filly Paterna by Eden C
– 2013 colt Pistolero by Kahil Al Shaqab
– 2014 filly Petula by Kahil Al Shaqab
– 2015 colt Portel (BE) by Pogrom – imported
– 2018 colt Prins by Pogrom
– 2019 colt Poter by Ecaho
– 2020 colt Pierantonio by Equator

Pinga’s offspring registered abroad:

– 2009 colt (gelding) Piast by Enzo (USA)
– 2010 colt Malik El Jamaal by Ludjin El Jamaal (USA)
– 2010 filly PA Penelope by Besson Carol (USA)
– 2011 filly F Pinnacle F by EVG Gentry (USA)
– 2016 filly Middle East by Emerald J (Belgium)
– ?

“You can immediately see that these are Wilkoń’s things, the movement of the brush, the shape of the stain, the technique of combining the brush with a pen, crayon, pencil… “ – that’s what the artist himself said about his characteristic style in Agata Napiórska’s book “Szczęśliwe przypadki Józefa Wilkonia“ (“Lucky Fortunes of Józef Wilkoń“), published by Marginesy, 2018. JÓZEF WILKOŃ, born in 1930, this outstanding painter, sculptor, illustrator, graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Cracow, currently lives and works in Zalesie Dolne near Warsaw. The main source of inspiration for him are animals, including horses, also Arabians, which he admires in a unique way. “I like to paint horses the most because they are beautiful, especially the Arabian horse. And a herd of Arabian horses is the pinnacle of beauty“, he confided to the author of the book. Indeed, Wilkoń’s Arabians are unmistakable and have everything that captivates fans of this breed: an arched neck, a raised tail when moving, a small, graceful head with a large, dark eye and dynamic movement rendered with a few strokes of the brush. There is no way to confuse the Wilkoń Arabians with the images of horses that came from the hands of other painters.

Horses were present in his life from his earliest childhood, spent in the village of Bogucice near Wieliczka. “When I was young, I was famous for being put on a horse, the horse would trot, and after a dozen or so meters I felt that I was irreversibly shifting to the right, left and bang, I was falling“ – he told polskiearaby.com. Already in elementary school, Józef showed his drawing abilities, although, as he claimed, “Kossak he was not“: “Juliusz Kossak, when he was twelve, made such horse drawings that the old Kossak would not have been ashamed“, he noted in the interview with Napiórska. The passion for the realism of Kossak, Matejko and Wyczółkowski came from Wilkoń’s family traditions.

He spent holidays with his grandparents in Łańcut, where there was a real zoo, of course with horses as the main characters. His grandfather, Wilkoń recalled, was Potocki’s coachman. Young Józef got acquainted with field work early. He could harness a horse and drive himself. He also learned to plow on his own, with one horse, and he was only thirteen! Agricultural work, as he admitted, is familiar to him to this day.

From Łańcut it was close to Albigowa. This is where Wilkoń came into contact with Arabians. He told polskiearaby.com: “We once went by wagon to Albigowa and an unpleasant accident happened along the way. Our mare, Baśka, got tangled in the harness and reins. She fell. And I, a young boy, had to save her. I managed. But I don’t remember why we were going to Albigowa. However, it was there that I saw Arabians for the first time, including Bandola, which stood out among others. Years later, I saw her in Janów, at Andrzej Krzyształowicz’s stud, who showed her to me. She was as great as before. He let all the horses out on the paddock, and as they ran, I understood for the first time what it was all about. “

An Arabian in trot, an Arabian mare with a foal by her side – this stimulates the imagination of every person sensitive to beauty, let alone an artist. “The animal has consciousness, a sense of beauty, the beauty of movement, “ Wilkoń told us. “The joy with which a foal runs is what an adult horse has when moving, and there is also the will to play. What a foal does is the poetry of movement combined with the joy of life. A running Arabian is a theatre, he must feel that he is beautiful and demonstrates this beauty. “

Bandola was deeply remembered by the artist. “She lived a long life and produced foals until late. I became interested in what happened later, I watched the auction successes of her children“, he admitted. What part of Bandola is present in his Arabians? Dashing and at the same time subtle, full of grace? “In today’s works, and I returned to the topic of horses, for a few seconds you can see the movement of the brush, which then curls up. One twist of the brush creates the form of a horse. Then only the head and legs are added. How? With the same brush. I turn it upside down and use the wooden grip. And the legs are formed. The wooden grip of the brush can also be used for drawing. And these legs are not distorted, they are really so delicate and subtle. Already the Greeks put horses with such legs on vases, and it was from them that I took this concept. But in my case they are even more absurd. “

He commented his dynamic line in Napiórska’s book: “The movement must be precise like a surgeon’s. For a long time I have been captivated by works of a decisive form, resulting from dynamic hand movements. “

Horses appeared in Wilkoń’s illustrations to “Pan Tadeusz“. In 1962, a contest was announced, in which many outstanding artists took part, including Zamecznik, Młodożeniec, Tomaszewski. Wilkoń won. “My «Pan Tadeusz» was quite shocking for those times – he recalled in the book – it consisted of watering-down the landscape, painting ephemeral, impressionistic and poetic scenes“. He told us that after winning the contest, in an interview with Adam Mauersberger, the then director of the Adam Mickiewicz Museum, he raised the subject of horses. “I asked if he didn’t mind that my horses have legs like spiders, something between an insect and a horse. He acknowledged, that that’s just the way it is. “

Arabian or oriental horses also appeared on the covers of Wilkoń’s children books: “Beowulf“ (1966) and Natalia Gałczyńska’s “Iv and Finetta“ (1962). The latter is one of the illustrations the artist is most pleased with. “The Arabian has an extremely compact, strong body and these unique limbs, “ he emphasized. Oriental horses are also a theme from “Ali Baba’s Treasure“ (2014). Nowadays, we have had a chance to come across Arabians from Wilkoń in public space – an open-air exhibition of his works was presented in the summer of 2015 at the market square in Piaseczno. Between July and September 2020, Wilkoń’s illustrations and sculptures were exhibited at the City Museum in Tychy – this is the latest of numerous presentations of the artist’s output.

The 50th Janów Podlaski auction held under the name of Pride of Poland 2019 took place in the premises of the Janów Podlaski State Stud on Sunday, August 11th. The Summer Sale was organized on Monday, August 12th. The total price achieved at the main auction raised to 1 million 396 thousand euro, while the Summer Sale result is 328 thousand euro. We offer you the list of the horses sold below.

Results
(Net prices in EUR)
 
Pride of Poland 2019
(19 mares offered & 2 embryos, 1 withdrawn, 1 in the offer)

Galerida 400 thousand Qatar

Potentilla 215 thousand Switzerland

Emanolla 135 thousand Belgium

Karola 122 thousand Belgium

Embryo out of Emandoria 100 thousand Saudi Arabia

Primera 90 thousand Switzerland

Cheronea 65 thousand Spain

El Gotta 60 thousand France

Anawera 57 thousand Spain

Pianova 52 thousand Poland

Atanda 30 thousand Poland

Shanson F 30 thousand Poland

Escotia 25 thousand Poland

Graciosa 15 thousand Poland

Summer Sale 2019

(24 horses offered, 1 mare withdrawn, 22 mares & 1 stallion present)

Wieża Marzeń 65 thousand Sweden

Włodawa 45 thousand Qatar

Eteryka 39 thousand Saudi Arabia

El Dorra 35 thousand Belgium

Praga 30 thousand Poland

Estonia 26 thousand UAE

Editha 22 thousand Libya

Elgora 17 thousand Libya

Patty 15 thousand Poland

Wizawa 14 thousand Poland

El Safija 10 thousand Germany

Pistolero 10 thousand Great Britain

Gossip column Pride of Poland 2019, by Ewa Imielska-Hebda

„One of the oldest, most famous and admired breeds worldwide, the Arabian horse is the product of generations of selective breeding”. The horses of the Bedouins „traditionally symbolized prestige, nobility, power and prosperity”. This is how the authors of the exhibition held at the King Abdulaziz Center for World Culture (Ithra) in Dhahran (Saudi Arabia) describe the Arabian horse. This educational center impressive in size and in its ultramodern form, designed by architects from Snøhetta, the Norwegian architectural study renowned for its bold designs, was inaugurated on December 1, 2017. The center hosts an interactive library, museum, art gallery and a movie and performance theater. Today it is a true pride of the Eastern Province (Asharqia).

So, guests of the second edition of the Asharqia Arabian Horse Festival in Ad-Dammam (February 20th-24th) had an opportunity to not only take part in two shows, the Asharqia Arabian Horse Classic and the Gulf Straight Egyptian Arabian Cup, but also visit Ithra and recall the story of emir Wacław Rzewuski’s expedition to Arabia, the latter owing to the presentation of a facsimile of the manuscript during the Festival – a feature of a major part of the exhibition accompanying these two shows. As in the previous year, the event was organized under the auspices of HRH Prince Saud Bin Naif Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, the Governor of the Eastern Province. The Organization Committee was chaired by Sheikh Khaled

Al Gahtani. „From the early start of this Festival, our idea was not to make it only for the elite, not only for the horse owners and the best horses. We wanted this Festival, these horse shows to be for everyone, for all families. This is why we wanted to expend the horse show from a single purpose of showing horses to a multifunctional festival in order to satisfy all kind of taste. But also, in the back of this, what was also very important to us, was to promote art and culture and the educational part”, he told us.

This time, the event was organized on extensive exhibition grounds of Dhahran Expo. Easy road access, parking lots, roomy stable tents, the ring where horses could show up in unconfined motion and, finally, a number of booths – all that attracted a crowd of participants and audience. Two hundred and thirty six horses were present in the catalogue of the Arabian Horse Classic show (there were as many as four groups of yearling fillies!) and one hundred and thirteen of the Gulf SE Cup. There were cash prizes for the class-leading fives and for medalists. Three top horses from each class qualified to the finals and the finals were open. All in all, the event took six days: three days of the Arabian Horse Classic (Feb. 20-22), two for the Gulf SE Cup (Feb. 23-24) and, in the end, one day for the guests to see horses at the studs (farm tour).

Wacław Rzewuski back in Arabia after 200 years

Two hundred years after the famous emir Wacław Rzewuski’s expedition to the desert for horses (1817-1820), the Saudis attending the Festival had an opportunity to see the facsimile of Rzewuski’s manuscript produced by Manuscriptum Publishing House (Poland). This richly illustrated work by Rzewuski, “Sur les Chevaux Orientaux et Provenants des Races Orientales”, is one of the most valuable relics of the Polish literature, today held at the National Library in Warsaw. The audience of the event in Ad-Dammam were shown a copy of the third, the most beautiful, volume containing images of horses and Bedouins well known by Arabian horse fans, bound using a 200-years old technique. Rzewuski – not only a diarist, translator, poet, warrior, outstanding horse breeding authority and draftsman but a talented cartographer as well – was also the author of the maps. The facsimile handcrafted in Poland reproduces accurately details of the original and, in addition, it has a cover bejeweled with gold and gemstones. To regret of some guests, the figure of Rzewuski – an inspiration of Polish bards including Adam Mickiewicz and Juliusz Słowacki, and great painters, such as Juliusz Kossak – is not commonly recognized, in contrast to other famous explorers, such as Thomas Edward Lawrence or “Lawrence of Arabia”, though Rzewuski’s merits as an orientalist and traveler are unquestionable. His manuscript has been up to date an invaluable source of knowledge about life and culture of Bedouin tribes inhabiting the desert of Najd.

To be fair, the exhibition was appreciated: the flow of visitors interested in the artifact and in the story of emir Taj al-Fahr (“Crown of Glory”), known also as Abd al-Nishan (“Servant of the Sign”), did not abate until late night. The work made a splash and in the pavilion – where also sculptures by Arend Eloff, a South African artist, the author of this year’s statues (show trophies) were displayed, among others – we could see sheiks and other VIPs, including Rachna Korhonen, the US Consul, or WAHO president Peter Pond from Australia, bending over the manuscript. The most prominent of the guests was undoubtedly HRH Prince Saud Bin Naif Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud himself. As Sheikh Khaled Al Gahtani told us, the presentation of the manuscript had been an integral part of the event. „We are a young population, 60% of the Saudi population is under 20 years old. So it is extremely important to look into the future. We have new leadership who is very strong and forward-looking. They have vision for 20, 30 years, already mobilizing the entire country to achieve successfully a high economical and social status. But at the same time we should not forget our past to see

where our strength is coming from. I think this manuscript of Rzewuski, its timing is extremely important because it says the story that many of young population of Saudi never heard of. It is also important for Saudi nation that we are not alone, that there were always friends to Arabia before, now and will be in the future”, he said. HRH Prince Saud Bin Naif Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud got a copy of the manuscript during the Sunday culmination: the ceremony of presentation of prizes to the winners of the show.

Large studs triumph but there is a room for smaller breeders too

The renowned princely studs that appeared with the strongest stake of horses, the Al Khalediah Stables and the Athbah Stud, were most successful during the both shows but also individual breeders and foreign guests had reasons to feel satisfied. Aroub Al Hamad (Emerald J – Ajmani Al Hamad/Ajman Moniscione), the graceful and expressive moving (2×20) yearling filly from Al Hamad Stud of Sheikh Hamad Khaled Al Sabah, representing Kuwait, became the gold medalist of the Arabian Horse Classic (her score in class: 91,63). She defeated Halalat Al Khalediah (Baanderos – Halah Al Khalediah III/Marwan Al Shaqab),

the grey mare from the Al Khalediah Stables in the final confrontation. Victoria Al Khaled (Glorius Apal – Victoria CH/Barritz SF), the two years old grey filly from the Al Khaled Farm of Sheikh Khaled Bin Ahmed bin Baker Baagdoo (Saudi Arabia) triumphed among junior mares. Sheikha Nahawend (AM Emiro – Sohar/Axel by Jasmine), a WH Justice granddaughter, also grey, bred by Yazid bin Musaed bin Abdullah bin Shibayan, owned by Murshed Nasser Murshed Alkhaldi, was second on the podium.

We saw an interesting situation in the senior mares championship where two charges of the Athbah Stud of Prince Abdulaziz Bin Ahmed Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud won both the gold and the silver medals. Meqbilat Athbah (QR Marc – Martinique J/Ekstern) was in the lead, followed by Tarfah Athbah (by EKS Alihandro), the daughter of Polish Ermina by Galba, sold at the Janów auction in 2010. Tarfah, a four-year-old statuesque chestnut mare with an extreme head, vividly reminiscent of her mother, scored as many as 93.25 points in her class (including “20s” for type and movement). Hard on her heels came her older, grey, stable mate who made her appearance in the 10 years old and above class mares. She scored 93 points, including 2×20 for type. Finally, the umpires awarded the first prize to the ten-year-old but we will certainly hear again about the comely Tarfah.

In the stallion category, the horses born at the Al Khalediah Stables took places on the podium again. In the group of the yearling colts the bay Sadeh Al Khalediah (out of Evening Fantasy/ZT Shakfantasy), son of Razi Al Khalediah who triumphed as a sire at the same show last year, won the silver. The Al Majd Stud (Saudi Arabia) owns the colt today. He was defeated in the finals by Arkan BHM (by Alexxanderr), a son of Alegra by Ganges, the Janów’s mare sold to Saudi Arabia in 2013. Bay Arkan, bred by Dr. Ali Ghanem Ali Almazrouei, scored 90.75 points in the class and qualified to the finals from the second place. Wajeh Al Khalediah (out of Bushra Al Khalidiah/Abha Ifni), another son of Razi, won the gold in the junior stallions category, repeating his success from the previous year. He was followed by the chestnut D Rawaj (FA El Rasheem – D Shroud/Royal Colors) born at Dubai Stud, owned by Rased Hamed Sayed Almari.

Grey Yaasoup Al Muawd (Shanghai EA – Alishya/Psytadel), bred by Al Muawd Stud (Sons of Abdullah Bin Muhammed Al Subaiee), owned by Al Khalediah Stables, was nominated as the best senior stallion. The silver medal went to Magic of Shawan (FA El Shawan – WA Priscilla/Providence), bred and owned by Abdul Aziz Bin Ibrahim Al Bargash (Al Sakab Stables). The stallion moved on to the finals from the second place in his class. The appearance of Albano (Enzo – Alena/Emigrant), born in Janów, who did not bring shame on the Polish breeding, placing second in the class of 10 years old and above stallions, was a matter of interest to Polish fans. He scored 90.88 points (including “20” for movement). Ghazi Bashir Mokhalad Al-Otaibi (Al Mokhldiat Stud, Saudi Arabia) owns the horse.

The representation of straight Egyptian horses was less numerous but the competition was fierce also in this show. The three-year-old Sahla Al Khaled (Ibn Dahra Al Khaled – Sukayna Al Khaled/El Thay Khemal Pasha) from the Al Khaled Farm of Sheikh Khaled Bin Ahmed Bin Baker Baagdoo, rewarded by the umpires with the overall score of 92,75 points including as many as six “20s” for type and for head and neck, won in the junior mares category. Indeed, the judges said many warm words about the quality of straight Egyptian mares presented during the show, particularly those classic grey ones with large dark eyes, such as Sahla. Maysuna Guasimo (out of Najiba Guasimo/Moroc), the 10 years old

grey daughter of Al Adeed Al Shaqab, bred in Italy, owned by Al Fala Stud (Sons of Mohammed Bin Abdul Rahman Al Tobaishi), was announced the champion of the senior mares. And there were more highest scores in this category! The judges decided to award Maysuna with “20s” for type all across the board (the only such instance during this year’s Asharqia Festival) and 3×20 for the head and neck. The final score for this mare was 93.25 points. She won the second place in her class, following another grey beauty Shalwa (Sinan Al Rayyan – Al Galyla/Ansata Riyal) from Kuwait (Al Danat Stud) who scored 93.5 points (including 3×20 for type and 3×20 for head and neck). Shalwa won the silver in the finals.

The situation during the competition of junior stallions was similar to that in the mare category: the three-year-old Najm Alward (M Raed – Shams Alward/Noorreddine Ezzain) was the winner with a 92.5 point score (including “20” for movement). Salah Ahmad Abdulrahman Al Terkait (Alward Arabians) from Kuwait is the breeder and owner of this horse. Najdi Al Shakhoura (Naif Al Rayyan – Falha Al Rayyan/Alidaar) from the Al Shakhoura Farm in Bahrain (owned by Mohamed Waheed Hasan Alaali) was chosen as the best stallion. He was another horse valued very highly by the judges: 92.63 points (including 2×20 for type).

Asked whether the hosts are satisfied with this year’s round of the Festival, Sheikh Khaled Al Gahtani said: „We will never be satisfied, but yes, we are very happy, extremely happy from the feedback we are receiving, from the young child to the biggest personality. They all find something that they belong to. In the end of the day, if we are lucky to promote what is already in the Arab gens, the Arabian horse, that is for us the biggest satisfaction”. So, will there be any further rounds of the event? Will be the Asharqia Festival a solid point in the calendar of events for Arabian horses in Saudi Arabia? „His Royal Highness, the governor Bin Saud, when he was leaving, I was hearing him giving an interview. And he has been asked the same question. This is what he answered: we don’t want this event to be in the calendar of horse shows in Saudi Arabia, we want it to be a very important show in the calendar worldwide. So now our objective and our celling has been raised up”, sums up Sheikh Khaled.

Farm Tour

Visits at the studs were an additional, and surely very much expected, attraction. This year Sheikh Khaled Al Gahtani invited guests to the evening party held at his Salayel Arabians stud. Everybody was charmed by not only the unusual hospitality but also the beauty of the place that the host built seven years ago on the grounds of a former transport base. Today it is a genuine paradise on earth with its thick vegetation, bubbling fountains, impressive architecture and, naturally, the great collection of horses including Mai El Farida (Ansata Almurtaiz – Imperial Balaanah/Imperial Baarez), one of the author’s of this report

favorites, who extended their necks with interest to welcome the visitors. Then, after the end of the Festival, a princely treat and a lot of esthetic impressions awaited us at Kenana Arabians owned by Abdul Aziz Bukanan and in the Alwadi Stud owned by Hamad Bin Awad Bin Quraya. Kenana Arabians showed their horses from Dahman Shahwan, Saklawi Jedran, Kuhaylan and Hadban Enzahi strains. The damlines presented at Alwadi included A Dahmah Shahwaniyah d.b., A Hadbah Enzahiyah d.b. and A Kuhaylah Rudaniyah.

Judging by all signs, the Eastern Province – the largest of the 13 provinces of Saudi Arabia, the center of the country’s oil industry (with the HQ of Aramco based in Dhahran) and the region of the Saudi cultivation of date – will continue to attract Arabian horse fans from beyond the region and from beyond the Persian Gulf countries. As Sheikh Khaled Al Gahtani told us, the hosts are already planning surprises for the third edition of the Festival to be held in 2020.

Asharqia Arabian Horse Classic results

Gulf Straight Egyptian Arabian Cup results

Gossip column, photo gallery by Monika Luft

PDF version of the article and photo gallery

There are only few stallions bred in Poland that have managed to become World Champions. Specifically, it was accomplished by: Gondolier in 1982, Fawor in 1983 (junior stallions), Piruet – twice (1989 and 1993), Ekstern in 2000, and Morion 2015 (junior category). This year, Michałów’s Equator (QR Marc – Ekliptyka/Ekstern), “always second” before, joined the gold medal club. He is an experienced show horse that has been competing for the “crown” several times already, and won a silver medal in Paris three times. Finally, there’s the success awaited for years!

Success at home, success abroad

This is what professor Krystyna Chmiel says about his show career in Poland: “Equator was heading forward from one victory to another. As a yearling (2011) he won his class in Białka and Janów, and he was also awarded a Res. Champion title in Białka, second only to Janów’s Pomian (Gazal Al Shaqab – Pilar/Fawor). It was similar when he was two years of age. He won in his age group, and was recognized as Junior Champion Colt at both shows.

Equator is also Polish National Champion (2012 among junior stallions, 2014 among senior stallions) and three-time winner of the European Championships (2012 as junior, 2014 and 2015 as senior). “Having returned to show grounds in the older age classes, Equator never stopped winning because, in addition to his typey head, he also has a horizontal topline and dynamic movement, with a suspension phase and high tail carriage”, professor Chmiel explains. “In 2014, he won the Polish National Senior Champion title in Janów Podlaski, with a difference of .34 pt above Pogrom, a bay stallion from Janów, 2009 (QR Marc – Pętla/Visbaden), which had just returned from his triumphant march across the American rings, where he received the most prestigious American trophies, but he could not withstand the mental pressure and experienced a burnout. Instead of presenting a nice-looking trot, he was climbing time after time, and as a consequence Equator, showing a more balanced behavior, not only won in this class but also the Senior Stallions Championship.

2016 was a year of success for Equator in the United States, from where he returned as Scottsdale International Breeders Classic Champion and Las Vegas Breeders World Cup Champion. In addition to his good appearance, Equator has a well-balanced character, which I have already mentioned before. At Michałów, which is his home stud, he was very popular among riders because he was kind when saddled, and he worked so perfectly with handlers at shows that after his victory (with the highest score of the show at 93.67 points) at the 2018 World Championship in Paris, his delighted trainer Raphael Curti kissed him on the muzzle and neck. Before the spectacular victory at the World Championship, Equator won the European Championship at Lier, preceded by a Res. Champion title at the All Nations Cup”.

This is what Raphael Curti says about kissing Equator: “For sure Equator is one of the sweetest stallions I ever met. The kiss in Paris was a mark of affection, especially that he is my first world champion.”

The path to gold

“In autumn 2017, together with director Maciej Grzechnik, we were thinking about planning for Equator’s further career, as last December he was finishing his two-year lease to the United States”, says Hanna Sztuka, breeding director at Michałów Stud at that time. “There were two options available: returning to Michałów, or continuing his career abroad. Despite the enormous hassle and pressure (obviously via the Internet), we decided that he should continue his career outside Poland. Although he “only” won a silver medal in Paris in 2017, we believed Equator was capable of winning the gold. The decision to put him into the hands of Raphael Curti, a trainer who was still young but already very experienced and devoted to his work with horses, seemed to be obvious, based on our very successful cooperation on the promotion of Galerida. The decision also turned out to be justified. The Al Sheikh Stud, owned by Mohamed Sheikh Suliman, became the partner in promoting Equator in 2018”.

Hanna Sztuka explains that the lease of Equator was different from those encountered at Michałów before: “Together with our partner, we created a new formula, through which we were able to take advantage of Equator’s appearances abroad to promote the new Al Sheikh Stud and the Michałów brand accordingly. At the Middle East shows, Equator represented Michałów and appeared under the Polish flag; at the European shows, Equator represented Al Sheikh Stud, appearing under the Israeli flag”.

“The reality about Equator is that he was shown by so many people, so many times… When he arrived at my farm my goal was to make him as happy as possible. I believe the horse is a bit sick of all this showing. All his life he has been in training, so my team and I tried to balance it and give him horse life and going out while keeping him in training. It’s a very intelligent horse that knows the show ring almost too well, so yes, we understood each other from the beginning, but it was all about balancing”, Raphael Curti reveals.

“The appearances of the Michałów horses in spring 2018 in the Middle East started with the Sharjah show, where Equator won the gold medal, following an exciting battle against Eden C”, Hanna Sztuka remembers. “It was Equator’s great performance. He presented all his advantages: the perfect movement, the extremely correct conformation, and this masculine charisma, enabling him to dominate among stallions. The Polish national anthem we could hear at the awarding ceremony was a unique event in the history of the show. Thanks to Equator, Emandoria and Galerida, the championships were truly dominated by Michałów, like those held three weeks later in Dubai”.

As we remember, Equator had to give way to E.S. Harir in Dubai. This is what Hanna Sztuka says about that event: “This was when the fierce competition started, which continued until the end of the year, closing with Equator’s strong victory in Paris. There were some concerns about Equator being able to withstand such a long show season, yet they turned out to be unfounded”.

“Equator in Menton had an allergic reaction just before the show and it was a very difficult situation for us, whether to show him or not, so after a dialogue with the Michałów director and with the leaser we decided to try and he was good although not great. And for sure it was not our day. To prepare him for the greatest success in his career was about the balance between him being in his mind, the most happy possible and it’s really all about him showing himself to his best ability, Raphael remembers.

Hanna Sztuka: “The work Raphael has done with his team, and the care they offered to Equator, let the horse remain in perfect shape until his last show in Paris; indeed, Paris was where he reached his peak moment. Like in sports training, the important thing is to get your best form at the right time, not a month earlier or a week later. The love and care Equator got from Jennifer Von Dahn, his personal caregiver, made him always calm, relaxed, keen on showing himself to the public. Equator is an extraordinarily balanced horse that knows exactly what people expect of him. As he enters the ring, he immediately “lights up the fire”, yet he is attentive at every moment, watching his trainer carefully. He doesn’t show any emotions at ceremonies, only complete relaxation. He knows he’s earned it. He’s done his job, and that’s it.”

This is how Raphael Curti talks about the Paris performance: “I participated with Equator in many shows this year and for sure Paris was the most memorable one. The Paris performance I believe was one of his best, especially in the championship. Equator is what we call “a class horse”, he gives all his best in the class, that’s way he is always winning his classes. Of course he is a very correct horse and he moves for 20s, but he was never a championship horse and he still is not. I believe the win in Paris was due to his performance in the finals, he moved again, he had a perfect stand up, he was really happy. Was it easy then? Absolutely not! But we did our best and we were hoping to win but we knew it was going to be a very difficult, very deep competition. I believe that day was the Equator day. He outshone his competitor”.

“I must acknowledge my team of people that is behind me – without them nothing would be possible. People see only the trainer and this is 10 or maybe 20% of the work. I especially want to give credit to Jennifer Van Dahn who has been from the beginning “the lady of Equator”, since he arrived in Privilege. She loved him and cared for him”, he adds.

Source of success: E-line is holding up tight

This is what professor Chmiel writes about Equator’s female line: Janów has its P-line, and Michałów has the E-line. It dates back to Estokada 1951 (Amurath Sahib – Saga by Hardy), a chestnut mare, brave yet not very sophisticated, Oaks and Criterium Stakes winner, with the best Coefficient of success of 4.44 in her year that, when paired with the right stallions, could deliver the first European Champion in 1973 – Estebna 1961 (by Nabor) and her full sister Eskapada 1960, who started a dynasty of champions of both sexes. They both started their own sublines at the Michałów Stud. Equator comes from the first of those sublines, through the following bloodline: Ekliptyka–Ekspozycja–Esperanca–Espaniola–Esencja–Estebna. Interestingly, they were not extraordinary show mares. The importance of individual selection comes up here! A different history was recorded for the 2018 Platinum World Champion, formerly the World Senior Champion Mare in 2013 and Junior Champion Mare in 2005 – Emandoria 2004 (Gazal Al Shaqab – Emanda by Ecaho). Her dam also became the World Champion in 2001, and there were Champions or Res. Champions of Poland (Emisja, Emigracja and Eskapada) in each of the backward generations (Emanacja–Emigracja–Emisja–Espada–Eskapada), as well as European Champions and All Nations Cup Champions (Emanacja), and the winner of the US Nationals Top Ten – Espada. All this was accomplished within the straight bloodline only, while the number of champions among side lines would be so enormous that this publication would be short of space. The pairing of a E-line mare with QR Marc, bay stallion, 2005 (Marwan Al Shaqab – Swete Dreams/Magic Dream), from Saklawi I strain, famous sire of show winners, yielded an extraordinary result in Equator.

Ambitious progeny

Professor Chmiel points out that Equator started his breeding career early, as a three-year-old: 16 foals by him were born in Poland in 2014 (10 fillies, 6 colts), followed by ten in 2015 (4 fillies, 6 colts) and four in 2016 (2 fillies and 2 colts), not only at his home stud of Michałów but also at private breeding. Some of them were distinguished at shows: Dong, bay, 2014 (out of Demeter) – winner of 3-year-old stallions class in Janów 2017; Kwarc, grey, 2014 – 2nd Res. Champion of yearling colts, 2015; Pontia, bay, 2014 (out of Polonica) – Res. Champion of yearling fillies, Białka 2015, first in two-year-old mares class at Białka 2016; and the best of those, Dastan, bay 2015 (out of Dama Pik) – Yearling Champion Colt, Białka 2016, winner of yearling colts class in 2016, Janów, bronze medal among junior stallions at Białka 2017, aged three – Junior Champion Stallion at the Marina di Pietrasanta (Italy) International Show.

Equalion, a bay stallion 2015 (out of Evolett), born at Zalia Arabians, won the Kauber Platte Junior Stallions Championship as a two-year-old; at the moment, he is a sire at his home stud. Equator passed on him the beautiful, dry head with a dishy profile, large eyes and nostrils.

Hanna Sztuka concludes: “Now we have the long awaited return to Michałów, where Equator will fulfill his duties as a sire at home. What next? In 2019, the first foal crop out of Equator’s daughters will be delivered at Michałów, which will be a true test of his breeding value. I am waiting for it with great attention.”

“Equator, Emandoria, Pustynia Kahila, as well as Galerida that had not appeared in Paris, happily returned to Michałów on 27th November, together with the other horses and the Stud personnel”, is what we could read at the State Center for the Support of Agriculture (KOWR) website on 28th November. Indeed, the lease contracts expired for Equator and Emandoria with the final word of farewell from the Paris event host. But Pustynia Kahila and Galerida were supposed to stay abroad throughout the 2019 season. According to the plans concerning Pustynia Kahila, the horse was supposed to be shown under the Polish flag in the Middle East and in Europe thereafter. Her last appearance would have been the Paris show. She was supposed to return in foal to her maternal stud. The Privilege training center was the contract partner. At the same time, Galerida would have spent her time with her lessee on her mare duties, whereby the foal supposedly born in 2019, Michałów bred, would have become the lessee’s property on payment by the latter of an amount agreed by the parties (already this year, i.e. on spec). Having raised the foal, Galerida would have returned to Michałów in foal again.

All the costs of the Michałów horses’ stay abroad were borne by the contract partners, including the insurance costs (Pustynia Kahila’s insurance was paid by Raphael Curti). So, why were the contracts terminated? Apparently it was the result of a series of steps undertaken by Michałów, including the shocking demand for payment of €200,000 penalty for Emandoria’s pregnancy (the foal was supposed to be delivered in Poland and be the property of Michałów). Moreover, the new Michałów management reported the fact of signing the lease contracts via e-mail to the prosecutor’s office (as reported on Marek Szewczyk’s blog*). Another factor that allegedly contributed to the termination of the contracts was the skillfully elaborated smear campaign in the media, which had a further adverse effect on the relationships with contract parties. “The assets of the Michałów Horse Stud include four valuable Arab horses, i.e. the mares: Emandoria, Pustynia Kahila, Galerida, and the stallion Equator. They are all champions, getting top marks at shows. Recently, all of them were taken to a place in Belgium”, as reported by gazeta.pl website three weeks ago (14 Nov.). “In Marek Szewczyk’s opinion, the case is suspicious. – Unfortunately, the model of lease applied with certain mares can be interpreted as stealing from the studs. Emandoria can be an example of this procedure. She is a multi-champion, yet she was leased without charge, and the only gain for the stud is 50% of the potential cash wins at the shows, said the expert in an interview with Rzeczpospolita daily”.
There were more of such press reports, including but not limited to the following titles: ‘Who is stealing from the Michałów stud?’ (Newsweek, 14 Nov.).

A reply to these accusations was provided by Raphael Curti, representing the Privilege training center in Belgium where the above mentioned horses used to stay until recently, in an interview with polskiearaby.pl.

„After Paris I sent all the horses to Michałów”, he says. „Besides Equator, also Emandoria which finished the lease with Al Baydaa according to the plan; Galerida which still had the contract for next year but I decided to terminate it due to all this bad, negative energy (I think it was the best to finish in a healthy way, so we stopped this contract); Pustynia Kahila who was supposed to stay all the 2019 as well but, in the end of the day, as I explained to the Michałów director Mrs. Monika Słowik, we are not steeling anything and if the Michałów’s director asks me to send back Pustynia, of course we send her back. It doesn’t matter that we have a valid contract, we are respectful people, we are gentlemen, so if the actual owner of the horse asks us to send it back, we of course do it.”.

As the French trainer underlines, the win in Paris is memorable for him in many ways for many reasons – for the horse, for himself, for his team. „But especially in the context of what has been happening for the last years in Poland, I want to be straight of it. I have never taken one euro in all the deals, or there was no one embryo taken from any of those mares. I did business before with Marek Trela, who sent for example Pinga for training with me and no one ever said that the horse was “stolen”. I understand the context of the situation, but I am not a judge, I am not pro the old management or pro the new one, I stay neutral in all politics. I am a horse trainer, I love the horses and my clients love the horses too. Mr. Ahmed El Talawi from Al Baydaa who leased Emandoria and Galerida – he sent hundreds of thousands euro of prize money from the Emirates and there was no one embryo taken from those mares. And the most important is that after a discussion between Mr. Talawi and myself we decided not to show Emandoria in Menton or Aachen or the Europeans, but we showed her in Paris with Mariusz Liśkiewicz under the flag of Poland, out of respect for the mare, out of respect for the state studs, out of respect for Poland. I think it is a very important point to mention because I have heard all this negative talk from many people and I am shocked and I am hurt by all this. Me and my team worked with those horses with our hearts. So it’s not easy for us – we understand that people talk but at the same time they should know the facts before writing things. We have original contracts for all those horses, those contracts have been given to the new Michałów director Mrs. Monika Słowik. The people that mention all those things, they have actually no idea of what is the truth and what is not. I am happy, I have nothing to hide, everybody can come to my office and see those original contracts.”

Raphael Curti is openly surprised about the enormous change of standards followed by the media. „I showed the Janów horses in Janów for two years in a row and I was chosen Best Handler. Marek Trela sent Pinga with me and he was never asked to make a press release about that. And when Michałów sent Pustynia Kahila to me, there was a sudden outrage. I was Res. Aachen Champion, Res. European Champion, and the reality of our market today is that it works this way. I will make an analogy here. We can say that Poland produce „Ferraris”. Fifteen years ago or even ten years ago a mechanic could drive a Ferrari, no problem. Now you need a Sebastian Vettel or Lewis Hamilton to drive the Ferrari, and it’s nothing against the mechanics, it’s just the reality about how professional our world became. Besides, it’s all in the package. When Pustynia Kahila goes to Aachen from Privilege, she travels one hour, while the Polish horses coming from Poland need 24 hours of travel to get there. Pustynia, I wish to add, was in training for free, I did not charge one euro to the Polish state studs. They asked me a favor: can you show Pustynia Kahila? And I said yes, I will do that for Poland. Of course Pustynia is an amazing mare and it was an honor to show her. It was a win-win situation. But all those small details make the big picture. Again, I am thrilled that Equator won, the horse deserved it more than anybody else. I hope he breeds a lot of mares and he is a happy horse.”

Early termination of Galerida’s and Pustynia Kahila’s contracts certainly implies a financial loss for the Michałów stud. It should be noted here that several hundred thousand euro were earned by Michałów this year from the prizes won by Emandoria (for a mare at such a level as Emandoria, there can be no doubt about these prizes, unless she is injured and fails to appear), without any adverse effect for Polish breeding (no embryos retrieved). For comparison, let us quote the official terms of lease of the same mare to the Middle East in 2012: no lease charge, no owner’s revenues from prizes (whereby the lessee earned around €300k at that time, as estimated by Senator Jan Dobrzyński, Law and Justice party), two embryos for the lessee.

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*16-11-2018: “I would like to inform the readers of my blog that Ms. Monika Słowik, acting director of Michałów Horse Stud, filed a notification of potential offense committed by Maciej Grzechnik, the dismissed director, to the prosecutor’s office. Two issues have been identified as requiring investigation by law enforcement authorities: ‘permission’ for non-payment for privately owned horses maintained by a State-owned company, and for drafting horse lease contracts post factum (following revocation), followed by presentation of these lease contracts with scanned signatures of foreign lessees.” (access: 4-12-2018)

For the first time in the history of Arabian horse breeding in Poland an A-ranked ECAHO show took place – it was the fifth edition of the Al Khalediah European Arabian Horse Festival in Nowe Wrońska (17–18th of August). Like each year, the third day of the festival moved to Warsaw’s Służewiec Racetrack, where spectators could watch the A category race for the Al Khalediah Cup (19th of August).

With the fifth edition of the show, organized by Al Khalediah Stud Poland and General Manager Hubert Kulesza, the entire team joined the circle of the most prestigious shows in Europe and found themselves among just three shows held on our continent as A-ranked (there are of course also three Title shows). And only two of them take place outdoors, Menton and the hereby mentioned Nowe Wrońska.

Luckily the weather was favourable for both people and horses – the heat was bearable and the storm on the second day managed to omit the show grounds. Despite the rain there was no need to stop the show like last year, when the downpour made competing impossible. The guests also turned up in large numbers – the VIP tent was full from the first minute of the show until the last.

There was a record number (for the show at Nowe Wrońska) of entered horses – 123 was the last start number. In the end 103 horses were shown in the arena. From the very first edition the show had the pleasure of hosting extraordinary contestants and this year was no different. We saw plenty of stars in the show ring and the quality did not differ from what we can see at the most prestigious European arenas.

We must note several organizational changes – first of all the drawing of the judges (five from among seven) before each class, as well as crossing out the lowest and highest marks. The average was counted after discarding both extreme marks, which resulted in a “flattening” of scores, but also eliminated marks that clearly diverged from the rest. Such a system has both its followers and opponents. One thing did not change – the finals were not open and a third placed horse in class could not win a gold medal. The gold medalists were chosen, similarly to previous years, only from among class winners. A new feature was the awarding of Top Five titles to horses which in the finals took 4th and 5th place. The show was judged by: Silvia Garde-Ehlert (Germany), Charlotte Rowell (Great Britain), Urs Aesbacher (Switzerland), Robbie den Hartog (Netherlands), Regis Huet (France), Mohamed Machmoum (Morocco) and Pierluigi Rota (Italy).

The organizer returned to Mercedes-Benz cars, which had been prizes for winners during the first two editions of the Festival. The money prizes were as follows: 20 thousand PLN (around 5 thousand EUR) for the silver, 10 thousand for the bronze (around 2,5 thousand EUR), 5 thousand for 4th and 5th place (around 1250 EUR) in the finals and 4 thousand (around one thousand EUR) for each place in class from 1st to 5th. The Best in Show award was honorary.

And the Merecedes cars go to…

This year none of the Mercedes-Benz cars remained in Poland – all went to foreign owners: two to Jadem Arabians (Belgium), one to Halsdon Arabians (Great Britain), one to Al Muawd Stud (Saudi Arabia) and two to Germany (Murana and Osterhof studs).

The first gold medalist, chosen unanimously by the entire judging panel in the yearling fillies, was the grey, full of charisma Dana J (Excalibur EA – Dalja J/Emerald J), granddaughter of the later gold medalist, show star and proven sire Emerald J (QR Marc – Emandoria/Gazal Al Shaqab). This is without a doubt a triumph of Christine Jamar-Demeersseman (Jadem Arabians), who has been a part of the Festival since its very first edition. Her horses had been high on the winners’ lists before, but this time as many as two cars will head for Belgium. „We are extremely happy with our 2 unanimous gold champions at the AKEAHF show”, said Christine Jamar. “Of course a win is never expected. All the circumstances have to be positive for these achievements, like for example the journey to Poland, the horses need to be in a great and healthy condition and they need to perform great as well. If you combine this all together there is a chance of competing for the medals in the championships. The AKEAHF 2018 edition saw some strong entries and it is a show who always has a great quality of horses present. Very special is of course that both horses are homebred. It was nice and exciting for Emerald J to win the gold title in Poland as his dam Emandoria is most likely the best Polish bred horse till today. Even Dana J is tracing back to Emerald J through her dam Dalia J”. „Big congratulation to the Al Khalediah Poland organizing Team!”, sums up the breeder. “For us it was the best show in Europe”.

Another breeder that has once again come to Nowe Wrońska is Michaela Weidner from Germany. This time she brought the colt Muranas Magic (Muranas Jassehr – Muranas Muhtarah/Stival). A son of a stallion that was last year stationed at Michałów Stud (and who is still stationed there) won the second of the gold medals and so the Mercedes will be going to Germany. “I still can’t believe it”, said the happy breeder after the championship. “I’m still not aware that we won!”. Muranas Magic is already a fourth generation of horses bred at Murana Stud. „For us important is not only a pretty, typey horse with a nice head”, stresses the owner. “We are also asking for a good body and great legs.”

Among the junior fillies the gold medal was won (and the judges were again unanimous in their verdict) by the chestnut of great beauty, Venice MI (Allegiance MI – Valentine MI/DA Valentino), bred in Australia by Mulawa Arabians and owned by Al Muawd Stud (Saudi Arabia). „My brother found her when he was judging in Australia”, Ryan Bryn Jones told us. „I went down to double check as it was a long way to bring a horse and we both agreed that she would be great for Al Muawd Stud.” „She reminded me a lot of Aukubra (Aurabba – Pearl Lady/Bay Shadow), a colt my dad had junior world champion with in Paris in 1990. She is a different, modern style but very special at the same time. Next stop for her will be Aachen”, he also announced.

The next gold medalist was the three year old Cyclone OS (RFI Farid – Inspired Najla/Ajman Moniscione), representing the German Osterhof Stud owned by Karl-Heinz Stöckle. As the participants of the previous shows remember, Cyclone OS has already been in Poland, together with his beautiful dam, silver medalist from 2016 and class winner from 2014. Cyclone OS himself won a car for his owner for a second time – in 2016 the main prize for a gold medal was a Ford. „Yes, it was the second time Cyclone OS ended up at the AKF show as gold champion”, confirms Karl-Heinz Stöckle. “I love this show, the organisation takes amazing care about the participants of the show. I only missed the show last year, there were no cars at the 2017 edition and I love to fight for the cars. It makes an event very exclusive and exciting.” He adds: „My personal feeling is, everyone is very relaxed and happy, even without ending up as someone expects it. You never ever can expect a champion if you decide to compete at a level A show, you only can bring a strong competitor to a show and hope your horse performs well. There are only two things which maybe the organisation of the show could add”, the breeder from Osterhof has some suggestions. „They could introduce a participation lottery: it means the computer draws out the participation number of the competitor of class which begins. Second it needs to be at least five judges which need to be counted, then at this year edition there was a lot of tie in the qualification classes.” However Karl-Heinz Stöckle ensures that he will return to Nowe Wrońska next year. „Thanks to the organizer for giving us all a very exciting weekend in Poland.”

The bred at Janów Podlaski and owned by Halsdon Arabians Etnologia (Gazal Al Shaqab – Etalanta/Europejczyk) won the gold in the senior mare category and then the title of Best in show. The owners, Shirley and Charlie Watts, were present in Nowe Wrońska and collected the awards themselves. They appeared very comfortable at the Festival and did not decline photos to fans and smiled to everyone around.

Yearlings

The yearling classes saw the get of such known sires as FA El Rasheem, Fadi Al Shaqab, Excalibur EA, Ascot DD, Zeus EA, Marajj or finally Gazal Al Shaqab. Due to a flattening of scores, which we wrote about above (the exclusion of lowest and highest marks), there were a lot of ties – and so the first three finalists from class 1A had the same score of 91,33 and the order was determined by higher notes for type and movement. Victorious was the later gold medalist, the Belgian-bred Dana J. The winner in the B series was a representative of Falborek Arabians, Shanson F (Nofal NK – Shilla/Kahil Al Shaqab), also with a score of 91,33. The filly later won the silver, before Alyssa OS (FA El Rasheem – Accra OS/Ajman Moniscione) from Osterhof Stud, who added a bronze medal in the finals to the gold of her stablemate.

Muranas Magic won his A series with a score of 91,17 and behind him placed Lancaster OS (SMA Magic One – El Lucina OS/El Sid), another competitor of Gestuet Osterhof, confirming the high quality of his maternal stud. Lancaster OS won the Top Five title in the finals, being outdone on the podium by: the winner of the B series of the yearling colts Magic Al Gazal (Gazal Al Shaqab – Ale by Magnifique/Magic Magnifique), bred by Sweden Arabian Stud and owned by Sh. Arahman Saud Bin Khalid Alqasse and Janów’s Erantis (Ascot DD – Eugara/Om El Bellissimo), who placed second in this group.

Juniors

The 2 year old fillies were also divided into two groups and the winner of the first was a charge of Minnesota Arabians of Małgorzata and Józef Pietrzak, Markiza of Justice (WH Justice – Markiza of Marwan/Marwan Al Shaqab). 92,33 is a beautiful score and Markiza of Justice was not omitted in the finals, taking the silver. The second group had a winner in the shape of Excalibria (Excalibur EA – Etnida/FS Bengali) bred and owned by Zalia Arabians of Katarzyna Dolińska-Witkowska (91,83), however in the finals she succumbed to the three year old fillies, which were the most numerous class – as many as 12 participants! Unbeaten proved Venice MI (92,83 and 2×20 for type and movement). Behind her placed Michałów’s great mover, Emanolla (Vitorio TO – Emandoria/Gazal Al Shaqab), 92,33 and as much as four “20s”: for type and 3 for movement, a recent gold medalist from the Polish Nationals in Warsaw, who here ended up with a bronze medal.

Among the junior colts not only Cyclone OS had been to Nowe Wrońska previously, but so did the other medalists: Aanan Lembarak (Hadidi Al Shaqab – AJ Sundos/Marwan Al Shaqab), bred and owned by Mohammed Mubarak Abdullah Al Sulaiti, won his class in the same place a year ago and repeated this success now. In 2017 he won a gold medal, but at the time there were no cars as main prizes and this time he was bested by Cyclone OS. Aanan Lembarak (91,67) had to settle for the silver. Also the bronze medalist Safwan Nayyar (Fayyad Al Fayyad – Starlight by Sissi/Psequel), from Nayyar Stud and owned by Abdullateef Ahmed Al Kandari, who entered the finals from third place in class, competed successfully in Nowe Wrońska last year winning his class and taking the gold (and prize money, because as it was already said there were no cars at the time).

And so ended the first day of the show (Friday), which began on time at noon and finished before 7:00 pm.

Seniors

The senior classes were held before lunch on Saturday and the finals after the break. The A series of the 4-6 year old mares class was commenced with flair by Janów’s Adelita (Kahil Al Shaqab – Altamira/Ekstern), who did not receive a 20 for movement from only one judge. She set the bar for this class and for the scores of the three finalists – they received 92,83 each! However Adelita was bested in type by Michałów’s Wildona (Shanghai EA – Wilda/Gazal Al Shaqab), the silver medalist of the Polish Nationals (2×20 for type, 1×20 for head and neck and 3×20 for movement). Yet none of them stood on the podium, because those places were taken by their rivals from other classes: the winner of the B series of 4-6 year old mares, the Michałów-bred El Omarissa (El Omari – Ernissa/Ekstern), owned by Andrzej Wójtowicz, whose mare won the silver and earned a score of 93,83 in class (the same marks for movement as Adelita: 4×20); and Al Inaya (WH Justice – Al Dofina/Mahadin) from Al Hambra Arabians of Michael Huber, who won the A series of the 7 year old and above mares class with a score of 93,17 (20 for head and neck and 2×20 for movement). In the finals she secured the bronze.

There was an interesting situation in the B series of the 7 year old and older mares class. It was the least numerous with only four contestants (Chrcynno-Palace Stud withdrew the senior horses at the last minute), including three from one stable, namely Halsdon Arabians of Mr. and Mrs. Watts. Two of them were born at Janów Podlaski (Biruta by Ekstern out of Bajada by Pamir, and Etnologia) and one in Michałów (Ereira by Piruet out of Elgina by Ekstern). All three found themselves in the finals, but Etnologia broke the bank by earning – before getting the gold and the Best in Show title – as many as 94,17 pts, the highest score of the show with a 20 for type and a full set of 20s for movement! (This feat, namely a full set of 20s for movement, was managed by only one more horse, Atius O by Shahim Al Nakeeb out of Atia Oone/Johann El Jamal, bred by Oone LLC and owned by Regina Arabians of Czesław Gołaszewski.). Ereira’s trot also earned her 4×20 (93,17). We don’t need to add that the finals of the senior mares delivered all viewers plenty of aesthetic experiences. Beauty, finesse, charm – everything that Arabian horse breeding is about (or what it should be about).

But the senior stallions did not allow to become overshadowed. The 4-6 year old stallions class was won by Shadi Al Khalediah (F Shamaal – Layan Al Khalediah/Dakharo), a son the beautiful 2007 World Champion Mare. The bred at Al Khalediah Stables (Saudi Arabia) stallion is owned by Reza Allahdadi. As a junior he won titles at shows in Europe and the Middle East, but started his breeding career just this season. His high mark of 93,17 consisted of 20s for type (2×20) and movement (3×20). In the finals Shadi won the silver, as he was bested by another stallion that has been marching through show arenas like a storm – Emerald J who received 3×20 for type, 2×20 for head and neck and 3×20 for movement (93,67). And so two of Emandoria’s produce stood on the podium – Emanolla (bronze) and Emerald J (gold).

A very spectacular performance in Nowe Wrońska was delivered by Lawrence El Gazal (Gazal Al Shaqab – Lara El Ludjin/Ludjin El Jamal), representing La Movida Arabians of Gerlinde and Ferdinand Huemer. With a topline “line an ironing board” (citing Prof. Krystyna Chmiel) and a greatly set tail, he gained the same amount of points as Emerald J (with one top mark for type and two for movement) and the bronze in the finals.

Racing Sunday

From the beginning the favourite in the Al Khalediah Poland Cup, an A category race over 1600 m for 4 year old and up horses with 66500 PLN (around 16625 EUR) in prize money was the French mare trained by Michał Borkowski, the 4 year old General Lady (General – Rivale d’Efner/Dormane), owned by Rafał Płatek, winner of the Kabaret and Bandos Stakes. She was ridden by Szczepan Mazur, who had already won 43 races this season. General Lady won the race before the British-bred Shahad Athbah (Amer – Klover/Vert Olive). The time 1’48,7 turned out to be one of the best races over 1600 m at the Służewiec track.

Photo gallery of medalists & Top Five title winners, by Ewa Imielska-Hebda

Results

PDF version of the article and photo gallery

49th Janów Podlaski Auction – Press release (janowauction.com)

The „Pride of Poland – 49th Janów Podlaski Auction” was held on Sunday evening on August 12th and the Summer Arabian Horse Sale 2018 on Monday 13th. The overall result of both auctions is 734,000 euro net and 17 sold horses.

This year the organizers decided to reach back to the auction’s roots – at the beginning the auction was strictly an event for people associated with the industry, directed at potential clients and not an event for the masses. More focus was also placed on the Janów Podlaski brand, with a greater financial discipline than in past years. The guests were surprised by a new scenery, different than ever before. The indoor riding arena was transformed into an elegant, friendly interior. In turn the auction offer was smaller, but had undergone a greater selection in regard to the actual demand of the market. 12 horses were offered for sale – from the State Studs of Janów Podlaski, Michałów, Białka and from the private stud of Falborek Arabians. One horse (Lot 10 – Wilda) was withdrawn due to veterinary reasons, therefore 11 horses were presented for bidding. Clients were present from such countries as Israel, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Belgium and the Czech Republic. Six horses found buyers. The highest price was achieved by Michałów’s Parmana – 180 thousand euro. The total outcome of the sale was 501 thousand euro net. The prices can be considered satisfactory when compared to the current state of the saturated market. The auctioneer was Marek Grzybowski, a co-creator of the Janów event in years past.

Before bidding started for Arabian horses, a charity auction took place. Its outcome will be entirely donated to a family from Janów Podlaski that suffered a fire. The charity equine was none other than a pony named Ursus from Michałów and the auction was conducted by the director of the auction and president of Michałów Stud, Maciej Paweł Grzechnik and the auction’s announcer, Brian Scott. An amicable and full of enthusiasm atmosphere made a good setting for higher and higher bids. The final outcome was 5600 euro, which is a large amount for such an offer.

At the end of the auction the guests had yet another surprise – up for bid was the valuable copy of the manuscript by Wacław Emir Rzewuski titled „Sur les Chevaux Orientaux et Provenants des Races Orientales”. This incredible piece of art, published and presented by Dom Emisyjny Manuscriptum, had its Polish premiere right before the auction. There were several interested clients – after a fierce battle the manuscript was sold for 8 thousand euro. The lucky buyer came from Saudi Arabia and the bidding was once again conducted by Maciej Paweł Grzechnik and Brian Scott.

The auction’s director, Maciej Paweł Grzechnik, says: „I would like thank the entire team that worked under great pressure and among general hatred in the media. Despite that the event was a success. We want to thank the bidders of Lot 0, the charity equine. We also of course want to thank the buyers. Pleased buyers, who know that the event is custom made for them, are an investment for the future. We wish them many breeding successes. I might add that we really wanted to restore the brand of the Polish State Studs, a brand that has been somewhat lost in recent years. Now three Arabian State Studs not only organized the auction, but also the Open Day at Janów Podlaski. Here I would also like to thank our entertainers, the Cavalry Squadron of the Polish Army, as well as Katarzyna Cygler and her Equine Theatre and the wonderful groups that added splendor to the Open Day and Evening Gala: TULIA and „Rokiczanka”. Their fantastic performances were a great attraction for our guests and public”.

On Monday, August 13th, at Janów Podlaski the “Summer Arabian Horse Sale 2018” was held, during which 20 horses were offered – 19 mares and one stallion – from the studs of Janów Podlaski, Michałów, Białka and Dąbrówka Arabians.

The auctioneer was again Marek Grzybowski. 11 horses were sold for a total amount of 233,000 euro. The highest price was offered for Michałów’s Prosaria – 35,000 euro.

The director of the auction, Maciej Paweł Grzechnik, summed it up: “We are rather pleased with the final result, though it could always be a bit better. However both the situation on Arabian horse markets worldwide, as well as the constant attempts of torpedoing the Janów Sale, do not help in achieving success. That’s why we are happy that as many as 17 horses found buyers. I want to stress that the weight of the auction was placed solely on the shoulders of the three state studs, also in terms of finances. We have greatly limited costs in comparison to past editions”.

Results
(Net prices in EUR)
 
Pride of Poland – 49th Janów Podlaski Auction
(12 mares offered, 1 withdrawn, 11 present)

Parmana 180 thousand Israel (not picked up)
Pilarosa 133 thousand Czech Republic
Esima 65 thousand Saudi Arabia
Foggita 56 thousand Poland
Elbera 52 thousand Belgium (not picked up)
Perika 15 thousand Israel (not picked up)

Summer Arabian Horse Sale 2018

(20 horses offered, 19 mares and 1 stallion)

Prosaria 35 thousand UAE
Elawira 32 thousand Belgium
Polka 31 thousand Romania 
Anawa 23 thousand Saudi Arabia
Wieża Nimf 22 thousand Poland
Binduga 21 thousand no info (agent)
Perla 21 thousand Mongolia (not picked up)
Cenobia 15 thousand Poland
Elfontana 11 thousand UAE
Parimala 11 thousand Mongolia (not picked up)
Milian 11 thousand Mongolia (not picked up)

49th Janów Podlaski Auction: video impression

PDF version of the article

In April of 2018 we informed about the presentation of the Publishing House Manuscriptum-produced facsimile copy of Count Wacław Emir Rzewuski’s manuscript of “Sur les Chevaux Orientaux et Provenants des Races Orientales”, one of the most important works in the history of Polish literature. The facsimile copy – that is, an exact replica – of the manuscript’s third volume, widely accepted as the most beautiful and colourful, was created using the same methods as 200 years ago, when the original had been written. The event was one of the highlights of the 28th Abu Dhabi International Book Fair (UAE).

To paraphrase the Publishing House Manuscriptum’s Artur Sobolewski, the man behind the idea for the manuscript’s facsimile copy, the process was designed to coincide with the 200th anniversary of Emir Rzewuski’s journey to Arabia. “I deal quite often with the numismatic sector in which anniversaries are extremely important events,” explains Sobolewski. “Thus the decision to publish the facsimile copy of the manuscript at this particular time. We were in a hurry to present it in Abu Dhabi, as Poland was the Guest of Honor of this year’s edition of the Fair. We wanted to host the preview showing then and there.” But the manuscript’s official premiere will be held on August 12th in Janów Podlaski on the day of Janów’s auction. “This is a long-term project which we intend to finalize during the Expo 2020 Dubai, which will coincide with the 200th anniversary of Emir Rzewuski’s return to his home country,” announces Sobolewki. By 2020’s event the publishing house will have produced 200 commercial and 20 collector’s copies, the latter ones intended for auctions or exclusive gifts.

The price of one copy exceeds 10,000 Euro. The process of making an exact replica is time-consuming – not only the facsimile faithfully recreates the detail-oriented source material, including maps and illustrations hand-drawn by Rzewuski himself, but it is also rich in colours and textures, with a cover adorned with gems and gold. The facsimile copy is definitely a collector’s item and does not try to rival the manuscript’s reprint produced by the National Library of Poland. Though the reprint is supplemented with an academic commentary, it does not include the illustrations and maps reproduced in their original form, whereas the facsimile should be indistinguishable from the original manuscript.

State Studs in Janów Podlaski, Michałów and Białka are the premiere’s patrons.

Read more:

Rzewuski Manuscript at the Abu Dhabi International Book Fair

News about the premiere – janowauction.com

Video: The facsimile of Count Wacław Emir Rzewuski’s manuscript

The Souq Waqif (Arabic: سوق واقف, “the standing market”), is a traditional market known to all Middle Eastern visitors located in the historic centre of the Qatar’s capital, Doha, which has existed for more than one hundred years. It is here that the Bedouins came to obtain necessary goods and to sell livestock, including falcons which even today have a separate trading nook (The Bird Souq). A new life for the souq began in 2006 after its renovation following a fire which destroyed most of it in 2003. The Souq Waqif is perhaps the last place in this rapidly developing city where the traditional architecture and city structure have been preserved, together with its narrow streets, numerous nooks and handcraft workshops. Also located on its grounds is a chain of nine small boutique hotels. Once an additional advantage of the market was the close proximity to the harbour.

Today, though the distance to the shore is still not far, pedestrians need to cross a wide and busy road, which can be quite a challenge. However the lack of easy access to the harbour and the Corniche promenade along the coast does not discourage the city’s inhabitants nor the tourists from spending free time at the souq, especially since the market is not just about shops, but also has numerous restaurants. After dusk, when the temperature slightly falls, the place becomes crowded and it is difficult to find a free table.

The Souq Waqif is also an organizer of many cultural events. In April of this year one such event was the Souq Waqif Equestrian Festival, during which the Souq Waqif Arabian Peninsula Horse Show (9-10.04) was held, as well as two Arabian horse auctions were conducted (8 and 11.04). The advertising slogan was “Family Friendly Festival”. And indeed, the location in the city centre attracted a large audience. The entry was free and the emotions soared high even in those viewers that attended an Arabian horse show for the first time. I myself heard one excited tourist call his friends, urging them to come quickly: “I have never seen something like this before!”, he was saying. “You must come, it’s a wonderful show! It’s very close and there are plenty of beautiful horses”. Definitely thanks to the Festival Arabian horses acquired some new enthusiasts. Those that often participate in shows said that they liked the idea of having the event in the city’s historic centre, surrounded by traditional architecture. It is a great promotion both for Arabian horses, as well as the place itself. A beautifully arranged arena with a stand for the public was a great encouragement to dedicate one’s free time to Arabians. There were also attractions for the younger attendees, such as ponies.

Souq Waqif Arabian Peninsula Horse Show

The show, held in accordance with ECAHO rules though not affiliated, was intended for Straight Egyptian horses. Three horses from each class qualified for the finals. The number of entered horses was 139 and the total prize pool was 2.5 million Qatari Riyals. The show was judged by: Mohammed Machmoum (Morocco), Ann Norden (Sweden), Manfred Hein (Germany), Maria Pilar Cavero Pino (Spain), Michaela Weidner (Germany) and Pierluigi Rota (Italy). The duties of ringmaster were carried out by Gijs Eggink (Belgium) and the Disciplinary Committee consisted of Malak Benamar (Morocco) and Line Brunsgaard (Denmark).

Due to the high temperatures at this time of year the events began at 4:30 pm and lasted until late evening. The first day of the show ended at midnight, even though the yearling classes were excluded. The A series of the 2 year old fillies class was won by Sudari Al Rayyan (Shagran Al Nasser – Toya El Zahraa/Gad Allah), a graduate of Sheikh Hamad bin Ali Al Thani (90,8), while victorious in the B series was the last to perform Rahaf Al Rowda (Barraq El Aliya – Rimal Al Dhabi/Sufian Alwaab), bred and owned by Mohammad Abdul Rahman Ali Al Nuaimi (91 pts). Triumphant among the 3 year olds was Al Jood Al Naif (Nasser Al Rayyan – Kerdan Al Naif/Ansata Sokar), from Al Naif Stud, an eye-catching filly of impressive beauty, who in the hands of Glenn Jacobs showed her full quality. This was also noticed by the judges, who gave her 3×20 for type and an additional top mark for head and neck (final score: 92,3). In the finals the filly was almost unanimously (with one exception) selected gold champion before the graduate of Al Rayyan Farm. The bronze medal went to the second place holder from the A series of the 2 year old class, Shahrazad Al Waab (Fares Al Rayyan – Shahira Al Nasser/Ashhal Al Rayyan), bred at Al Waab Stud and owned by Abdulla Saed M A Al Hajiri.

In the two junior stallion classes the best turned out to be subsequent graduates of Al Waab Stud: among the two year olds – Jabbar Al Waab (Al Adeed Al Shaqab – Nefisa Al Safinat/ Ashhal Al Rayyan), owned by Al Hazm Stud (90,2); among the three year olds – Hilal Al Waab (Sinan Al Rayyan – Sharuby HP/Maydaan-Madheen), owned by Mohammad Abdul Rahman Ali Al Nuaimi (91,8). The gold medal went to the latter, while Jabbar settled for the bronze. The silver was awarded to the effective and progressing Julaibeeb Al Fahed (Al Adeed Al Shaqab – Pandoraa/GR Amaretto) from Al Fahad Stud, who shown by Gerald Kurtz placed second in the 2 year olds class (91 pts).

The 4-6 year old mares were divided into two series, A and B. The first of them was won by the multichampion Deema Al Nasser (Fares Al Rayyan – Dalal Al Nasser/Ansata Nile Pasha), bred by Sheikh Nawaf Bin Nasser Al Thani and purchased at the age of six months by Mesfer Mohammed Al Hajri, who together with his brother Nasser runs Umm Aludham Stud. The filly quickly proved that she is full of potential by winning trophy after trophy at shows in Qatar. Today she is one of the largest stars of private breeding in this country. During the Souq Waqif Show she received top marks for type from all judges and two additional 20s for head and neck. Her final score was 92,7 pts! So it was no surprise that she was chosen gold medallist. Victorious in the B series with a high score of 92,3 (though with no 20s) was the first shown in this competition Ehsan Al Shahania (Barraq El Aliya – Salomeh/Ansata El Salaam), daughter of a mare presented in the 11 year old an above mares class. Bred at Al Shahania Stud, Ehsan is owned by Saif Mohammed Al Hajri.

During this class there was unfortunately a dangerously looking accident, which reminded everyone that a horse show is not just great fun, but you must always be extremely careful. Medical assistance was needed. Luckily the handler did not sustain such a great injury during the fall as it initially seemed.

The 7-10 year old mares class was won by the well-moving and shown by Alessio Scaramella DHS Aisha (Mahadin – Amira Madheen/Maydan-Madheen) of Irish breeding and owned by Al Nawasi Stud. With a 20 for type and two more for head and neck she received a final score of 92,3. In the oldest mares class the best turned out to be the afore mentioned Salomeh (Ansata El Salaam – Alissha/Moroc) of Italian breeding and owned by Abdulla Salem Al Hajri. Her final score was 92 pts (incl. a 20 for movement). This class was made up almost entirely of grey mares (with one exception) and without a doubt it was a presentation of gracefulness and femininity that all spectators await. In the finals, behind the golden Deema Al Nasser placed Nashua Al Rayyan (Ansata Sokar – NK Nahla/NK Hafid Jamil), from Al Rayyan Farm, who earlier came second in the 7-10 year old mares class (91,7, incl. a 20 for type and head and neck). The bronze went to DHS Aisha.

Triumphant in the two senior stallions classes were: Haboob (Farres – Ajmal Farasha/Ashhal Al Rayyan), bred by Sheikh Abdulla Bin Khalid Al Thani and owned by Mohammad Abdul Rahman Ali Al Nuaimi (92 pts), in the 4-6 year old stallions class, and in the eldest stallions class the graduate of Shaqab Stud Farhoud Al Shaqab (Al Adeed Al Shaqab – Johara Al Shaqab/Imperial Mahzeer), who in the hands of Luca Oberti received 92,2 pts (incl. a 20 for type and 2×20 for head and neck). In the finals it was Farhoud that became champion, while Haboob got the bronze. The second place on the podium was secured by Mountaser Laffan (Ansata Nile Echo – Authentic Monisa/Nabeel II), son of a champion mare from European arenas (Ströhen, among others), bred and owned by Jassim Kayed Almohannadi. He places second in the 4-6 year old stallions class with a score of 91,7 (incl. 2×20 for type and a 20 for head and neck).

The announcing of the results was each time accompanied by great emotions of the participants who did not contain their joy. Entire families came out for the decoration ceremonies, as usual in Qatar. It has to be said that the display of emotions is a huge advantage of these here shows. Because that is also what it’s all about – not just about preserving the national heritage of the Arabian horse, but the joy of success and a good old sports rivalry. All of this was very much in abundance during the Souq Waqif Arabian Peninsula Horse Show.

Horse auctions

Apart from the show there were also two auctions – of Straight Egyptians and horses from the international breeding program, often called “Polish” due to these horses descending from Polish lines. Out of these two the Straight Egyptian auction held on Sunday afternoon enjoyed more popularity, though the offered prices were not high. 70 horses were entered for sale and already the first bidding ended in sale. It was for Imperial Karmah (Imperial Al Kamar – Imperial Janaabah/Imperial Im Jasim), an older (born 1995), classic Egyptian mare, bred at Imperial Egyptian Stud (Egypt). Her owner, Al Srayia Stud, accepted a price of 17 thousand Qatari Riyals.

Other owners often expected much higher amounts and sometimes horses left the arena unsold despite offers of 160 thousand Riyals. Such was the case with the exceptionally beautiful Jiewnh Al Dhakhira (Ashhal Al Rayyan – Aarwa Al Shaqab/Al Adeed Al Shaqab), owned by Lahdan Eisa L Al Mohanadi. Usually the prices were between 30-60 thousand Riyals, but the majority of the horses did not find buyers.

On Wednesday, during the second auction, 61 horses were offered for sale, but also a small number of them changed owners. The weather played a trick and the participants had to deal with rainfall, which luckily wasn’t too great to interfere with the bidding. The first sold horse was the Janów Podlaski-bred Cisza (Om El Bellissimo – Ceralia/Emigrant), who her owner sold for 60 thousand Riyals. Some mares achieved prices around 90-100 thousand Riyals (for example Sehban Al Shaqab by AJ Arqam, out of Entesar Al Shaqab/Marwan Al Shaqab, or the daughter of Gazal Al Shaqab Al Anood Al Jeryan out of Aliya Al Jeryan/Marwan Al Shaqab), but most often the bidding stopped at 40 to 60 thousand Riyals, so most of the horses returned to the stable unsold. The owner of the Michałów-bred Kagera (Pegasus – Karolina/Laheeb) offered together with a very good filly by Al Adeed Al Shaqab, did not agree to sell her for 52 thousand, which was the highest offer.

As we can see, also in Qatar it is not easy to sell a horse at a good price – but to buy one at a good price you also need luck. For horses with valued in the Middle East Egyptian pedigrees owners want large sums, even if the conformation of the horse leaves a lot to be desired. The reason for this are definitely numerous Straight Egyptian shows with high prize money. Either way, the Qatari auctions confirmed that the market is currently difficult and there are more sellers than ready buyers, the most valuable horses are not offered for sale and the buyers are holding on to their wallets. For breeders it is a sign that breeding decisions must be made with great care. At the same time more events for Arabian horses broaden the market, which clearly the representatives of this industry in Qatar understand. And opening up to a wider audience must always be applauded.

PDF version of the article and the photo gallery

A million dollars – remains until this day an unbeaten record for a Polish Arabian stallion. Such an amount for EL PASO was offered in 1981 by Armand Hammer (1898–1990), an American oil tycoon descending from a Jewish family in Odessa. Although he was called “a friend of Lenin”, he was followed by the KGB when arriving in Moscow and by Kadafi’s secret service when in Libya. Upon his arrival in Poland groups of “sad gentlemen” in Polonez cars and Fiats traced his every step.

Janów ’81 and the horse that money couldn’t buy

The auction in Janów, its 22nd edition, took place on September 20th, 1981. The sale’s results were listed on front pages of even such tabloids as “Express Wieczorny”, right under an announcement of the PZPR (Polish Communist Party) Central Committee Politburo, which shows of how great significance they were. “Armand Hammer’s arrival in 1981 caused some political pressure on us, because he was not only wealthy, but had friends in the Soviet Union”, recalls in an interview with polskiearaby.pl Marek Grzybowski, who at the time organized the Janów Sale as a representative of Animex (in those days the event was called Polish Prestige). “He intended to buy El Paso and was counting on this being made easy. The stallion was already well known. He had already managed to claim the titles of US Champion and the nickname of “The horse that money couldn’t buy”, because his breeders had numerous times declined to sell him, using him broadly in Polish breeding. When Hammer appeared in Poland, the horse was already designated for sale – he had left a suitable number of daughters”.

Indeed, in the pedigree base we find forty Polish daughters of El Paso (Czort – Ellora/Witraż) born during 1973–1982. The stallion, representing the Kuhailan Haifi d.b. sire line and the damline of Wołoszka 1810, was born in Janów in 1967. A grandson of Witraż and Wielki Szlem, he had the legendary Ofir twice in his pedigree, a horse that was lost in Russia after Janów was robbed by the Soviet Army in 1939. Luckily two famous grandsires of El Paso survived, saved by Jan Ziniewicz during the bombing of Dresden. As a result, 23 years later after those tragic war events, El Paso was born, whose significance surpassed the record price set in 1981. During 1972–1975 he was used in Michałów, later in Janów. Leased by Lasma Arabians (1976–1978), successfully shown in the US, including at Scottsdale and the US Nationals, he died in 1995 at the age of 23 years old. His last get was born in the US in 1994. In Poland he left such sons as Etogram (out of Etruria by Palas) and Europejczyk (out of Europa by Bandos). His most famous daughters include 4 full sisters born at Michałów, out of the mare Warmia (Comet – Wadera/Doktryner): Wizja, 1977 US National Champion and dam of Wiaźma; Wilejka, 1982 Polish National Champion and All Nations Cup Champion in Aachen, dam of the stallion Wojsław and mare Worskla; Wistula, sold at the famous Polish Ovation sale in Scottsdale in February of 1985; and Wersja, exported to the US similarly to her sire in 1981.

The sale of El Paso was a huge event not only due to the record price, but also because of who the buyer was. This is how Marek Grzybowski recalls that time: „Seated at a large table were breeders and representatives of the Animal Trade Association, but almost no one spoke English. Just as well, because thanks to this I could peacefully carry out the negotiations. They were quite long, because we didn’t want to give in too quickly. Suddenly Hammer said: I’ll give half a million dollars for the horse! Everyone’s eyes became round and I could see that they wanted to agree, but I said: wait a minute, we won’t accept half a million, but we can think about it for a million. Hammer hit the table with his hand and shouted: sold! And I thought: darn it, I put in a too low bid. And added: under one condition. Tomorrow is the sale and you must buy at least five mares. He paid 380 thousand dollars for those mares, but I still had the impression that if I said “a million and a half”, he would also have agreed”.

The 1981 auction offered 34 mares and one stallion and the bidding took place in a circus tent. Armand Hammer was seated next to other prominent buyers, Eugene LaCroix and David H. Murdock. “After the welcome speech by Director Andrzej Krzyształowicz and just prior to the auction El Paso was led onto the arena and M. Grzybowski announced the sensational news”, wrote Antoni Święcki, the then chief editor of “Koń Polski” in his coverage from Janów (4/1981). “Today Mr. Armand Hammer, a businessman from the US, purchased the 14 year old US and Canadian National Champion – the stallion El Paso – for one million dollars. This information garnered a round of applause”. Hammer, as agreed, also purchased six mares: Harsza (Ego – Harfa/Omar II) for 76 thousand dollars, 1972 Derby winner Sasanka (Almifar – Santa/Czort) for 80 thousand, Gonitwa (Palas – Gonagra/Negatiw) also for 80 thousand, Kampania (Bandos – Kama/Eleuzis) for 31 thousand from Janów Podlaski and the Michałów El Paso daughter Wilczyca (out of Wadera/Doktryner) for 61 thousand. He spent exactly 373 thousand USD. By the way, during that auction lot 1, Michałów’s Milada (Burkan – Mila/Gwarny), was announced as sold after which a buyer was not found. (Let’s recall the hysteria after the 2016 sale when the first bidding of Sefora ended in an announcement that the bidder could not be identified.)

An “unexpected” visit, or even two

Soon after the 1981 auction the “Express Wieczorny” daily (September 22nd) reported on Hammer’s meeting with journalists which took place a day earlier. Armand Hammer announced that he came to Poland “unexpectedly”, which does not line up with reality. Since he made purchases two days earlier at Janów, then he must have been expected there; not to mention that Marek Grzybowski recalled the political pressure. In fact the visit’s entire course proves that it was definitely expected, from talks with the highest state authorities to a press conference. “Prime Minister Wojciech Jaruzelski welcomed on the 19th of this month the known American businessman, president of Occidental Petroleum Corporation, Dr Armand Hammer”, wrote the “Trybuna Ludu” daily, the official organ of the Communist Party, in its Monday edition (21.09.1981). Together with General Wojciech Jaruzelski, who was then the prime minister and minister of national defense, Armand Hammer was to talk about the participation of his company in “mutual investments”: “The American party wants to give Poland a loan of 100 million dollars to build a new sulfur mine near Tarnobrzeg and 40 million dollars to build a plastic compound plant in Włocławek”, wrote “Express Wieczorny”. What they really talked about we will probably never know, but it must have been a continuation of earlier negotiations, because the millionaire visited Poland several months before the sale, in mid-December of 1980, something that few people today know about.

The fact that nine months later El Paso was sold at a table and not during the sale could have been a nod toward the millionaire, a way to “soften” him or to show gratefulness for some of his promises. “I want to treat this as a beginning of greater things and after my return to the US I will tell about my impressions and suggestions to the president-elect of the US, whom I know personally, why it is worth to help Poland in the field of agriculture”, Hammer promised during a press conference ending that first visit (“Życie Warszawy”, 17.12.1980). As we know, the president-elect at the time was the anti-Soviet Republican Ronald Reagan. It is said that in the 80s Michail Gorbaczov placed Hammer on the list of participants in negotiations with Reagan (whose campaign was financially supported by the millionaire) and as an observer Hammer was the only private person who took part in the talks. Mariusz Janik wrote about this in a biographic article on the Forsal.pl website: “When asked in one of the interviews if he has more power than the main inhabitant of the White House, he smiled understandingly and nodded his head”. However, as we can deem in light of Hammer’s later fate, the agreed amounts did not come to Poland, apart from the payment for the horses. And anyway just three months later, on December 13th, 1981, Wojciech Jaruzelski imposed martial law in Poland and in the face of such a difficult political situation the negotiations with the Americans must have become greatly outdated.

Do we know the real answer to the question why Hammer, who was in talks with the highest authorities of Communist Poland, took the time to visit Janów? Although he definitely liked horses, the reason could have been taxes (of course there could have been more reasons). In the same issue of “Koń Polski” in which he covered the auction and National Championships of 1981 Antoni Święcki published an interview with Andrzej Żółtowski, a cooperator of McNeill Group Inc from Florida. “Today the participation of financial tycoons in Arabian horse breeding is determined by financial and tax aspects”, explained Święciski’s interlocutor. “The support of the state is seen in exemption from taxation for 5 years from sums spent on establishing farms, purchases of horses and all other associated costs. They have specialists – lawyers, that developed a system of investing in the Arabian horse for protection and exemption from taxes”.

Agent, millionaire, bankruptcy

There were numerous legends about Hammer, and not just positive ones (he personally attended to those), who like other American businessmen resorted to investing in horses to evade taxes. “Armand Hammer dreamed about fame and respect all his life”, we read in the afore mentioned article from Forsal.pl. “For half a century of America’s post-war history he was one of the symbols of the country’s economic powers: in his time he was equal to the Rockefellers or Carnegy”. At the age of 23 he became the first foreign businessman with a license for activities in Soviet Russia. He was a great admirer of Vladimir Ilyich. “If Lenin asked me to jump out of a window, I probably would”, he declared. He obtained millions of dollars for Moscow, using a network of companies and banks, trading works of art confiscated by the Bolsheviks, including Faberge eggs, icons from tsarist monasteries and paintings from the collections of the Ermitage, not to mention that he often sold counterfeits to the buyers. Also false were his testimonies before FBI agents – but he managed to avoid jail. He made his greatest wealth on Libyan oil. On his last hagiography, as Janik informed, he spent 200 thousand dollars! However the myth fell soon after his death in 1990: “Among the thousands of declassified notes from the archives of the KGB and FBI and hundreds of hours of talks carried out in Hammer’s office emerged a completely different picture of the legendary millionaire”. First, it came out that the gigantic fortune, assessed by Forbes in 1986 at 200 million USD was an empty shell, because his debts were larger. Unsuccessful business activities cost Occidental Petroleum, Hammer’s company, more than 2.5 billion USD and the promises of donations to charities and cultural institutes turned out to be empty phrases. “Therefore investments in the USSR and China, such as a film studio and statues of the boss, got axed”, concluded Janik.

A figurehead and “carrier of intelligence”

In Poland Hammer was welcomed like a star. Nine months prior to the auction, on December 15th, 1980, tens of TV reporters were awaiting him at Warsaw’s Okęcie airport. Thanks to documents of the secret police known under the name of Security Service (SB)* we know that the millionaire’s every step was monitored. Hammer had a file set up, thanks to which we even know the details about his clothing. These notes shed a new light not on the history of selling El Paso, but on the associated historic events. Hammer was followed as a “carrier of intelligence”. The task of the secret police was to “secure a secret search”. The “figurehead” was taken under observation right after his arrival by private plane (a special charter from Budapest). From that moment on he was under a watchful eye. Documents from the observation were received by lieutenant P. Kamecki. Hammer was accompanied by: his wife, employees of Occidental Petroleum Corp – Donald Baeder, Donald Cooper and Bohdan Broniewski, described as a “known employee (or: known to the employees) of Dept I Office B of the Ministry of Internal Affairs”. The group was welcomed by Minister Gorzelak. Awaiting the guests on the parking lot were Peugeot and Mercedes cars, which took them to the Victoria hotel, from where they headed to the Polish Parliament. The secret police file also tells us that Hammer was about 175 cm tall, obese, had a round face, wore glasses in light frames, had grey hair and was balding on the forehead and had a grey, small mustache. He was dressed in a grey coat, navy suit, white shirt and a tie. In his hand he held a brown briefcase. His wife was of average height, with a pale and oval face, grey hair; she wore a white sheepskin with a white collar and a light-colored hat. The observation was carried out in total by some dozen officers in at least seven cars. “The operation room was not used”.

As the “Trybuna Ludu” daily wrote the day after his arrival: “On the 15th the first secretary of the PZPR Central Committee Stanisław Kania welcomed the president of the board of Occidental Petroleum Corporation, Dr. Armand Hammer, who was visiting Poland at the invitation of chairman of the Planning Commission by the Council of Ministers, deputy prime minister Henryk Kisiel, who participated in the conversation”. As you can see, although Armand Hammer was considered by the authorities as “one of their own” (“Dr. Hammer is known as an initiator of a several decade long beneficial cooperation with the Soviet Union and other socialist countries”, we read in “Życie Warszawy” from 17.12.1980), they acted according to the principle of Feliks Dzierżyński: “Trust, but verify”. During the exhibition titled “Secret operational techniques of communist Poland’s secret service” in the former prison on Rakowiecka street in Warsaw you could see the original phone taps from one of Warsaw’s hotels. Cables from the rooms joined each other in one wardrobe, where on each shelf was a tape-recorder. In the adjoining room sat a person responsible for creating transcripts out of the recorded material. It is more than probable that Hammer was also recorded.

The truth is more interesting

Was the surveillance of Janów Sale’s clients the norm or an exception? Was Hammer the only one that drew the attention of the secret police? “The scale of surveillance that we underwent was incredible”, Jacek Pawłowicz, director of the afore mentioned museum, told the weekly “Sieci” (2/2018, 8-14th of January). Meanwhile some people still think that the Arabian studs operated “outside of the system”, outside of history of that time. Unfortunately, that was not the case. Though not all documents are available so far, the mentioned here story of Armand Hammer clearly shows the times in which the sale of El Paso took place. The secret police was a powerful force and did not leave things to their own course, and definitely not when foreign currencies were involved. Saying that the Arabian studs were islands of freedom in a sea of communism is being naive or hypocritical. The truth was different and it is worth learning about it, because the truth is always more interesting than the most sweetened legend.

A calendar of visits by Armand Hammer to Poland during 1980/81

15.12.1980 – Armand Hammer arrives in Poland by private charter from Budapest, at the invitation of the first secretary of the PZPR Central Committee, Stanisław Kania.
16.12.1980 – The millionaire’s press conference.
19.09.1981 – Armand Hammer is received by the prime minister of Poland, General Wojciech Jaruzelski.
20.09.1981 – Hammer in Janów Podlaski, the morning before the sale, purchases the stallion El Paso and during the sale six additional mares.
21.09.1981 – The millionaire’s press conference and his departure through London to Los Angeles.
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*Służba Bezpieczeństwa – the main security organization in Poland from 1956 until the end of the People’s Republic (PRL) in 1989. A stronger body responsible for political repression in that times.

During the Saturday finals (March 17th) of the Dubai International Arabian Horse Championship Emandoria was chosen unanimous Senior Gold Champion Mare, Equator won the silver and Galerida became bronze champion. This is a great success – also a financial one – of Michałów Stud, as well as Al Baydaa (Egypt), the lessee of both mares and the Privilege Arabian Horse Training Center (Belgium), which prepared all three for this difficult competition.

The senior stallion finals were observed by the ruler of Dubai, Prime Minister and Vice President of the United Arab Emirates, Sheikh Muhammad Ibn Rashid Al Maktoum. The presence of the Emir of Dubai, who himself is an excellent rider and has often successfully competed in endurance rides, attests to the rank of the event, which is currently one of the most important Arabian horse shows in the world.

Polish fans hoped that Equator, who on Friday won his class, would get the gold – however in the finals his rival E.S. Harir was peerless and won unanimously. The silver medal for our Polish representative is still an excellent result at such a prestigious event.

Emandoria not only became a gold medallist herself, she also contributed (as grand-dam) to the success of another gold medal, this time in the yearling colts category – Admiraal (by Emerald J), representing Al Muawd Stud (Saudi Arabia). The blood of Michałów also flows in the veins of AJ Kafu (Shanghai EA – AJ Kahayla/QR Marc) from Ajman, chosen junior gold champion stallion. His dam is the daughter of Kwestura.

Despite numerous entries, only two top horses from each class qualified for the finals. Therefore in the finals we saw leading horses from all categories. The finals were held in an open formula, but there were no surprises – gold medals went almost solely to class winners except for Equator, who earlier bested E.S. Harir.

It has to be said that such a strong representation of a Polish stud at a Middle Eastern show has not been seen for a long time. All three horses proved the strength of Polish breeding which is the only European force that can stand against the power of the Middle East. The influence of Michałów on other breeding programs was very much visible. This is definitely significant for the promotion of Polish horses especially today, when we are constantly observing attempts at undermining their position in the world. Today a strong statement has been made – Poland still has horses whose role at shows of the highest calibre is undeniable.

„We are pleased, because the Michałów horses gained almost all the we hoped for”, told us Michałów director, Maciej Grzechnik. “Our plan of promoting horses in the world’s most important market was successful. Of course a gold medal for Equator would give us even more satisfaction, but we have no reason to complain. Just the presence, but also the superb performance of our horses at two shows in the Middle East, in Sharjah and Dubai, is a huge success, also financially, because the Dubai show has high prize money, out of which our horses won almost six hundred thousand!”. The prizes in Dubai in the senior horses were: 275 thousand USD for a gold medal, 165 thousand for the silver and 60 thousand for the bronze. A victory in class was awarded with 25 thousand USD. Money prizes were given to the top seven horses in class.

You can read about the Dubai classes competition here