Simeon Stud is Australia’s most famous stud for Straight Egyptians. Its breeding program had a major impact on Australia’s Arabian horse breeding. Reason enough for me to take a closer look at today’s breeding program and to remember my first visits here in 1988 and 1993.
Nestled behind a huge hedge in Dural, only a few kilometers outside of Sydney lies Australia’s biggest and most prominent stud farm for Straight Egyptian Arabians: Simeon Stud. Entering through the gate, the pastures and paddocks are situated right and left of the driveway. Walking along this path brought immediately back all the memories from 30 years ago when I came here the first time. Not much had changed in all those years. Since 1956, Ruth and Peter Simon, with daughter Marion Richmond, are breeding here purebred Arabian horses. And although they actually started off with the chestnut mare Fuewasa *1942 of English bloodlines, Simeon Stud later became the synonym of Straight Egyptian breeding in Australia.
The Foundation Mares
It was in the 1970s to early 1980s, after the two Straight Egyptian Stallions Raadin Royal Star (ET Crown Prince / Om Khamsa) and Sankt Georg RSI (Ansata El Salim / Bint El Bataa) came to Australia when Marion Richmond got fascinated by these bloodlines and shifted her breeding program towards Egyptian bloodlines. She set out to seek similar horses in Europe and purchased two Aswan daughters (Novina and Nadira), a Kaisoon daughter (Mohema), a Hadban Enzahi daughter (Damirah) and a liver chestnut filly by the name of 27 Ibn Galal-5 (Ibn Galal / 10 Hosna) from Babolna Stud in Hungary. Only the Ibn Galal and Kaisoon daughters were Straight Egyptians, the others were of mixed bloodlines, so the course for a Straight Egyptian breeding program had not yet been finalized. However, these mares had a significant impact on the development of the Arabian horse breeding in Australia. For example, the Marbach-bred Damirah (Hadban Enzahi / Hamdi) *1975, was exported from Germany to England, while El Shaklan was there on lease to the Maxwell family. After this “stop-over” she came pregnant to Australia, where she gave birth to Simeon Sa’ar. The latter was sold to Joda Park Arabians and from there exported to the USA. In both countries, he had a significant show record and influence as a sire.
I saw Damirah in 1988, and she was a very typical Marbach-bred mare, deep-bodied and typey, with this soft, feminine expression many of Hadban Enzahi daughters had. She was a very good broodmare, leaving 11 foals for Simeon Stud – but as she was not Straight Egyptian, none of her offspring remained in the stud. Her most influential son was for sure Simeon Sa’ar, a stallion that became a National Champion in Australia, and produced countless Champions, including Simeon Sanegor, born in 1981, who was later exported to the USA, owned by Walter Mishek.
The two Russian-bred Aswan fillies had to remain in Europe due to Piroplasmosis, and only their offspring were imported to Australia, among them Simeon Savion by Ansata Abbas Pasha. She was – in my eyes – the most beautiful filly at Simeon stud when I visited the place first time in 1988. She only had four foals – and again, as her dam was of Russian origin, she did not fit the Straight Egyptian breeding program. Savion died at Simeon at the age of 30 in 2002. The German-bred Mohema was directly imported to Australia, where she had six foals, of which Simeon Sasson was sold to the USA. Without any doubt, the Babolna-bred mare 27 Ibn Galal-5 (often wrongly written as 27 Ibn Galal V) *1974, was the most successful of the lot, and the only one whose line is still maintained at Simeon Stud until today – actually, it is the biggest mare family today, with about 30 members.
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