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Zeus E.A. – a modern breeding concept with Bedouin roots

Breeding

Zeus E.A. – a modern breeding concept with Bedouin roots

Zeus E.A. (Shanghai E.A. - Essence of Marwan E.A. po Marwan Al Shaqab), fot. archiwum
Zeus E.A. (Shanghai E.A. - Essence of Marwan E.A. po Marwan Al Shaqab), fot. archiwum

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The stud of Polska AKF has recently announced the lease of the stallion Zeus E.A., full brother to Excalibur E.A., one of the most desired sires in the world, the Triple Crown winner of the All Nations Cup, the European Championships and World Championships.

Zeus E.A. himself has already been used by several Polish breeders who have decided to buy and import his semen in recent years. Although the group of mares was not large, it was in Poland that one of his most beautiful daughters was born – the grey Diodora bred by Petroniusz Frejlich – Top Five of the Białka Junior Spring Show, bronze medalist from Radom, fourth at the European and Polish Championships. A review of the results of Zeus E.A.’s get in the world shows, however, that the most titled offspring come precisely from mares with Polish pedigrees.

EN: Excalibur E.A. (Shanghai E.A. - Essence of Marwan E.A. by Marwan Al Shaqab), by Ewa Imielska-Hebda
Excalibur E.A. (Shanghai E.A. – Essence of Marwan E.A. by Marwan Al Shaqab), by Ewa Imielska-Hebda

Zeus E.A. is an attractive offer for breeders who want to take advantage of the opportunity to use a stallion with a modern, sought-after pedigree, while not wanting to invest very large amounts in the breedings of his full brother. It is also an opportunity for those who want to cover their mare with fresh semen available in Poland. The lineage of Zeus E.A. and Excalibur E.A. has an extremely interesting genesis and represents a modern breeding method, the so-called “pure in-strain”, which in short means inbreeding horses every few generations to outstanding ancestors, especially when it comes to dam lines. Even the first travelers and importers of Arabian horses from the desert – such as the German Carl Raswan – noticed that Bedouins who did not use written pedigrees identify and distinguish their horses by dam lines. As we know, it was the mares, not stallions, that were the most valuable in the Bedouin herd. Surprisingly – the correctness of these methods is confirmed by modern genetic research on mitochondrial DNA, which shows that some of the characteristics of horses are passed on only by mares and over many generations. On the other hand, inbreeding to the same line contributes to the consolidation of some features carried by this line. Let us return here to the pedigree of Zeus E.A., who is inbred to Elizja, appearing in the pedigree of this stallion in the second generation on the mother’s side and in the fourth on the father’s side. Elizja herself – Belgian National Champion, the quintessence of the European saklavi type, being a combination of Egyptian, Spanish, Polish and Crabbet blood, was also the result of inbreeding – both her dam and sire were by the same stallion (Ibn Estasha – son of Estasha, a full sister to the legendary El Shaklan). Another mare whose line appears twice in the pedigree of Zeus E.A. is Warandes Hindia – a mare by the Egyptian Hindi, and representing the dam line of Biruta imported from Nowy Dwór, who was also a distant inbred – her sire and dam were both from the dam line of Sahara d.b imported from the desert by Count Juliusz Dzieduszycki.

Rose KAS (Zeus E.A. - Remarqable Melody by Profander K.A.), by Ewa Imielska-Hebda
Rose KAS (Zeus E.A. – Remarqable Melody by Profander K.A.), by Ewa Imielska-Hebda

Returning to the present – the more popular of the brothers – Excalibur E.A. – bought at the age of 3 by Princess Laetitia D’Arenberg of Uruguay, took European shows by storm in his first season. It is true that he started his career on the Cote d’Azur, in Menton, with “only” third place in class. However, he never again allowed to be defeated by winning shows in Strohen (Germany), West Coast Cup (Belgium) and at the All Nations Cup in Aachen (Germany), where he achieved the highest score in the history of ECAHO shows (95.33!). He then had “only” the European and World Championships, which of course he won as a beat favorite. Excalibur E.A. as a yearling had already won the title of US Champion, later adding victories in Dubai and Abu Dhabi to his achievements, being in the hands of new owner Al Saqran Stud (Kuwait). As Princess Leatitia from Uruguay emphasizes in her memoirs – Excalibur E.A. was not bought by her to win shows, the aim was to improve the type, head and neck and build at the princess’ stud – Las Rosas in Uruguay. The idea to lease the stallion to Europe and send him for demonstration training came later. As you can see, Excalibur E.A., the full older brother of Zeus E.A., lived up to all breeders’ expectations. Among his offspring, he has many international champions and champions, including World Reserve Champion Stallion Alexxanderr. In Poland, he also proved himself to be a great sire, siring Polish National Junior Gold Champion Colt in Janów Podlaski – the stallion El Valentino bred by Wojciech Parczewski, the mare Excalibria bred by Zalia Arabians – gold medalist of the shows in Kauber-Platte and Cracow, Al Khalediah European Arabian Horse Festival (A) Top Five, or the stallion Dexcalibur – fourth in class at the Polish National Show and currently used at the home stud of Petronius Arabians. The exceptionally beautiful one-year-old filly Ghezlan Al Owanah, originating from a breeding farm in Poland, and born in Kuwait out of the Polish mare Gallia, is also worth observing. The filly, which definitely caused the greatest stir last season in the Middle East, is the bay yearling MDS Hind, considered by many to be the most beautiful yearling filly in the world, recently purchased by Ajman Stud (UAE).

Diodora (Zeus E.A. - Druhna by Ensenator), by Patrycja Makowska
Diodora (Zeus E.A. – Druhna by Ensenator), by Patrycja Makowska

Zeus E.A., brought to Poland this year, popular among breeders because of his pedigree, but also good qualities passed onto his offspring – often a grey coat, a beautiful head and good movement. Daughters of Zeus E.A. are for example, mentioned at the beginning, the beautiful Diodora or Esperanza MS – silver medalist at the Spanish National Championships. Another daughter of Zeus E.A. from a Polish mating is Rose KAS, which took second place at the highly-entered national show in Qatar, and third at the title show – Katara International Arabian Horse Festival, in the same country. In turn, the son of Zeus, E.A. – the colt Wulkan E.A. was second at the French National Show in Vichy. He is also of Polish descent from his mother’s side (his grandmother is Michałów’s Wilda). As you can see – Zeus E.A. so far has proved to be the best on mares of Polish origin. This observation is also confirmed by the stallion’s breeder – Albert Sorroca, who summarizes the advantages of his pupil in this way – “Always when the name of Zeus EA comes to me nice memories come, too. I remember well when he was born, I saw immediately a special colt was on the ground. He grew like he is now, harmonious, balanced and refined. I think he is a perfect match, a great combination between Shanghai EA and Marwan Al Shaqab. His mother Essence of Marwan EA is a daughter of Elizja , who is the dam of the World Champion Stallion Khidar, too. His incredible pedigree is a great addition to any breeding program, adding his quality and refinement. Despite him being very young, he shows how he can produce as a sire. There is a lot of offspring in the world who won a lot of titles and trophies. Zeus, the God of Gods in Greek mythology, is called to be one of the most influential stallions in the world, following the steps of his father Shanghai EA and his full brother Excalibur EA. From a quality point of view Zeus EA owns the best features of his family: the refinement and exoticism like his father Shanghai EA and the power and stamina from his full brother Excalibur EA. Breeders know that Equus Arabians breeding program is based on Polish mares. For this reason I am sure the cross with Polish mares will produce great results.”

Zeus E.A. (Shanghai E.A. - Essence of Marwan E.A. by Marwan Al Shaqab), photo: archive
Zeus E.A. (Shanghai E.A. – Essence of Marwan E.A. by Marwan Al Shaqab), photo: archive

Therefore, a very interesting idea was put forward by Polska AKF stud, bringing Zeus E.A. to Poland in order to give him a chance to test himself on a larger number of mares. As the stud manager – Szymon Głowacki says: “I have always been interested in the stallion Shanghai E.A. and his offspring. I find the breeding program at Equus Arabians very interesting. That is why we found it interesting to lease the full brother of the second, after Shanghai E.A., most outstanding pupil of Equus Arabians – Excalibur E.A. We have been observing Zeus for a long time, and for some time we have been making efforts to bring this stallion to Poland, where he already has very successful offspring – incl. a great mare Diodora bred by Mr. Frejlich. I believe that this stallion is very suitable for Polish mares – he is practically alien in terms of pedigree, he can bring a lot of fresh blood to our breeding. We plan to breed a wide range of mares with very different pedigrees to Zeus. As for the offer for other breeders in Poland – I encourage you to use Zeus E.A. because of the interesting pedigree and good offspring that were already born in our country ”.

Excalibur E.A. (Shanghai E.A. - Essence of Marwan E.A. by Marwan Al Shaqab), by Ewa Imielska-Hebda
Excalibur E.A. (Shanghai E.A. – Essence of Marwan E.A. by Marwan Al Shaqab), by Ewa Imielska-Hebda

The above-mentioned criteria for Zeus E.A. were taken into consideration by two breeders who have obtained the best offspring from this stallion in Poland so far – Petroniusz Frejlich, breeder of the above-mentioned Diodora, and Dawid Borowiec from Koronowo Arabian Stud.
“I once used the sire of Zeus in my breeding – the stallion Shanghai E.A. and I was very pleased with the result} – recalls Petroniusz Frejlich. “He sired a filly, which is now a very good dam of foals. Therefore, I decided to take advantage of a very good offer to buy more breedings to Zeus E.A. The outstanding Diodora comes from the first year. I will certainly use this stallion also in the following seasons, since he is available in Poland. “

Diodora (Zeus E.A. - Druhna by Ensenator), by Sylwia Iłenda
Diodora (Zeus E.A. – Druhna by Ensenator), by Sylwia Iłenda

“Zeus is a full brother to the famous Excalibur, but, in my opinion, he has not been used as wide in breeding, also in Poland,” says Dawid Borowiec, who bought a large number of breedings to Zeus E.A. “I believe that Zeus can give as good offspring as his famous brother, if used on more valuable mares. I myself bred some very good daughters – incl. Rose KAS sold as a one-year-old filly to Qatar. She performed at three shows in this country and was always in the top five, once she won a class and once was second in class, at a title show attended by yearling fillies from many countries around the world, Rose KAS was third. I will certainly use Zeus, among others, on very good mares with Michałów pedigrees,” summed up Dawid Borowiec.

According to Polska AKF, the breeding price will still be attractive and will be announced at the beginning of the breeding season. Zeus E.A. is CA and SCID clear.

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