EGYPT: Buyers from around the world buy some of the most prized Arabian horses at an auction held at the el-Zahraa stud farm in Cairo's Ain Shams neighborhood

Buyers from around the world bought some of the most prized Arabian horses at an auction held at one of Egypt's top horse breeding farms. The day's proceedings began early on Tuesday (January 9) in the sprawling, manicured grounds of the el-Zahraa stud farm in Cairo's Ain Shams neighborhood, with luxury cars rolling through the gates to chauffeur the well-heeled buyers to the auction grounds. On offer were forty-eight of the Arab world's most sought after pure bred Arabian horses, with the highest bid of the day made for "Liwaa", a two-year-old black stallion that was sold to Ali Ben Mahlouz for 350,000 EGP (61,290 USD). The el-Zahraa stud farm is owned by the Egyptian Agricultural Organisation (EAO), which has been breeding pure Arabians since 1908, though it was previously known as the Royal Agricultural Organisation and moved to its grounds in Ain Shams in 1928. The EAO carries on the tradition of breeding Arabian horses that was begun in the thirteenth century by the Mamluk rulers of Egypt and continued by the Ottoman Sultans. The horses at el-Zahraa are descendants of Arabian horses imported from the Gulf in the early 19th century by Mohammed Ali the Great (1769 - 1848), considered by many Egyptians to be the founder of the modern state of Egypt. Dr. Hussein Mansour, Head of the EAO, said that buyers were looking for specific criteria. "The general shape, origin and breeding of the horse. They come to look for those aspects; the shape of the legs, neck, nose, eyes and ears, the way the horse walks and so forth," Mansour said. Arabian horses are known for their stamina, speed, intelligence and physical beauty. Traditionally bred for warfare, they are also highly sensitive and require specialist care. Many of the buyers -- themselves breeders -- were purchasing horses to mate with their own stock. Mohsen el-Gabri, who owns the Mazraa el-Gabri, bought several horses at the auction, including a lively white mare called "Olivia" for 100,000 EGP (17,514 USD). "This horse is good. It has a good eye. It needs some improvement in the head, but it has good breeding, it has good blood. It moves well and it has a good body. When it mates with another horse with different blood it will produce good offspring," he said. In the world of horse breeding bloodline is very important, and the auction list included the immediate ancestry of the forty eight Arabian horses on offer. What partly attracted el-Gabri to "Olivia", for example, was the fact that the six-year-old mare was fathered by the famous stallion, Gad Allah. Representatives of the EAO pride themselves on the transparent way in which they certify the bloodlines of their pure bred Arabian horses. Many of Tuesday's buyers came from Europe and the Gulf, with some looking for horses to breed for racing, or for show-jumping and others simply selecting them for their physical beauty. Another buyer, Hassan Abdou Breach -- who owns the International Equestrian Club in Cairo -- said he had several criteria when deciding on which horses to bid on. "We either choose the horse because of its beauty if we are using it to reproduce, or we take it according to its body if we want it for riding," he said. The rules of purchase were strict: fifty percent of the price of the horse had to be paid immediately and the remainder deposited in four days. The day's auction proceeded smoothly, with all of the horses on offer being sold.

ITN Source | January 10, 2007

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