Af Albahar has died
The stallion Af Albahar has died at the age of 19 on October 18th which coincided with a period when his semen samples were being frozen for future use.
Bred by Khalid Khalifa Al Nabooda in the United Arab Emirates, Af Albahar (Amer) became the mainstay of the Qatari-based Al Jeryan Stud. In February 2023, Mohammed Hamad Khalifa Al Attiyah said: “Af Albahar is a top stallion. He has been recognised as a top sire for several years now. The Haras de Thouars has done a great job of promoting him to the French market. He has covered a significant number of mares. His is a good breeding record. We kept his stud fee deliberately low. To have a chance of producing quality performers, you have to cover enough mares. At the start of his career, Af Albahar covered a lot of mares in Qatar. However, for the past two years, we’ve been trying to be more selective regarding the broodmares he’s bred to – with the emphasis on quality. Numericallly, this has seen a slight reduction in his number of local matings of the sire.” Af Albahar’s production line has proved very successful in Qatar, where speed is an important component in determining performance. His standard bearers, naturally, include the likes of AJS Saaeq (Af Albahar), with the latter causing quite a stir by beating the ‘imported talent’ in the Qatar International Cup (Gr1 PA), which is something of a rare achievement for a locally-bred horse. On behalf of the Al Jeryan Stud, the stallion has also produced AJS Moaddie (Af Albahar) and AJS Gannas (Af Albahar), both winners of the Silver Sword, and AJS Berline(Af Albahar), who was voted champion sprinter in Qatar.”
In search of an outcross
Af Albahar was un-raced. Mohammed Hamad Khalifa Al Attiyah recalls: “When we bought him, and he was bred in the United Arab Emirates, it was with the idea of tapping into a different bloodline. He is an outcross for the majority of mares of either French or US lineage. This intuition has clearly worked well. He’s a stallion which tends to upgrade his stock. He also imparts a lot of speed. His offspring include numerous sprinters and milers, but, of course, there are those which also stay 2,000m. When Af Albahar joined us, he had never seen a racecourse. We tried to put him back into training, but we quickly changed our minds by packing him off again to stud. The Gr1 winner Sahab (Af Albahar) was bred by my cousins. I’m pleased that they have such a good filly by Af Albahar on their hands. She’s a good advertisement for her sire. He has proved a good match for all types of mares. However, he has done particularly well when bred to sturdy mares boasting strong French pedigrees, and especially in their maternal lines. The stallion seems to succeed with mares with Manganate (Saint Laurent) blood, and with those of his sons, which applies equally to mares from the Akbar(Djelfor) line. We are now starting to see daughters of AF Albahar at stud.“
A first rate PA sire
The stallion’s best progeny include Sahab (Qatar Arabian Trophy des Juments, Gr1 PA), Ch’Ezza (The President of the UAE Cup – Coupe d’Europe des Chevaux Arabes, Gr1 PA), Alsaker (Qatar Derby for PA 4-year-olds, Gr1 PA), Bint Jakkarta (Al Rayyan Cup, Gr1 PA), Af Mathmoon (Al Maktoum Challenge Round 1, Dubai Kahayla Classic & Liwa Oasis, Grs1 PA), Conchita D.A. (Jebel Ali Racecourse Za’abeel International Stakes, Gr1 PA)… a list that is far from exhaustive. He was among the top three PA stallions with the best ratio of winners to runners (18 per cent). Regarding the 2023 table relative to the sires of winners in France, he currently lies second at the time of writing, thanks to the €545,046 in prize money bankrolled by his progeny during the course of the 2023 season.