- Toistaiseksi vain englanniksi -
When my first Saluki Akasha (El Hamrah Jacinth) died
in a car accident the Christmas before last, I was grief-stricken. I
knew the only way to battle the emptiness was another Saluki, yet I
also knew that it had to be a very special puppy to walk in such revered
footsteps.
I carefully researched pedigrees until I came upon the perfect combination
of sound, moderate, functional lines with a desert influence. This I
found across the border in Sweden. Breeder Jan Thellberg of Kennel Ibriz
had exactly what I was looking for in his U-litter and so, in due time,
in April '98, I picked up my black and tan bitch Ibriz Uzume, a.k.a.
Asheerah, a beautiful moderate little bitch with an unflappable temperament,
my constant companion.
Asheerah has an exceptional pedigree that combines
a fair number of modern, post '50s imports from various countries of
origin. As in most of our Western pedigrees, Mrs.. Vera Watkins' Sabbah
the Windswift is a major influence. Registered in England in 1951, Sabbah
was bred by Amir Mohammed Ibn Saud and presented by H.M. King Abdul
Aziz Ibn Saud (of Saudi Arabia) to his London Ambassador, His Excellency
Sheik Hafiz Wahaba, M.R.V.O., and later given to Mrs. Watkins (Windswift).
Sabbah was mated twice to Windswift Yasmin, producing Windswift Soraya
and Knightellington Windswift Thamar who appear in Asheera's pedigree
in Windswift Shahana, Windswift Sharon, Windswift Ramses and Sovereign
of Daxlore, among others.
When Mrs. Dorothy Lees (Rualla) lived in Damascus,
Syria during the 1960s, she received a 16 month Saluki bitch bred by
Sheik Abdul Razzak Al Razzouk from the Feljah-Ramadi area on the Euphrates
in Iraq. Amira Razzaka (Khalef x Shamsi), a small red bitch 22 inches
in height, had been trained at hunting and was very fast. Some months
after her arrival, Amirah was joined by Caesar Rualla (Malak Rualla
x Farida), a 4-months-old fawn male with a white blaze, bred by Emir
Fauz al Sha'lan and born near Rutba from, as I understand it, Syrian
lines. He grew to about 25 1/2 inches. Moving to Lebanon, Mrs. Lees
,mated the headstrong Caesar to the obedient Amirah in 1964. Two bitches
resulted, later registered in England as Falha Rualla of Fenbourne and
Bjonarrie Ferial.
Back in England, Mrs. Lees bred Falha to Knightellington
Djahi in 1969. One of the resulting pups was Mrs. Lewis' Knightellington
Rualla Zoulaira, who became a two-time winner of the Cleve Cup, winner
of the Sharif Trophy, and was described as one of the best coursing
bitches of all time. She was mated twice to Ch. Knightellington Ibrahim,
producing Ch. Knightellington Melody, Knightellington Mahdi and Ch.
Knightellington Portia, all of which live on in the Ibriz U-litter of
today.
Falha's sister Ferial, with Ch. Knightellington Caspah, produced
a litter in 1967. Bjonarrie Athene became the foundation bitch of Mr.
Philip Browning's Rabia-kennel and was eventually bred to the Saudi
import Taviton Rhumli Saggers. Owned by Baroness E. Beck, he was a small,
muscular feathered fawn registered in 1970, pedigree unknown. The result
of this pairing was Rabia Anaza Min Ramli, a 3/4 desert dog born in
March 1971, who went on to win 2 CC's and Reserve Best Saluki Dog at
Crufts in 1977.
Also in '77, Vincent and Carole Reidy (Al-Yaman) imported
Ch. Knightellington Rogaiya (Ch. Knightellington Melody x Knightellington
Lanka), an elegant tricolor bitch who made Saluki history becoming the
top winning Saluki ever in New Zealand and top winning bitch in Australia,
with 12 Best In Shows to her name. An enthusiastic hunter, she would
only course live game, ignoring the lure. With the English import Ch.
Knightellington Vinca of Al-Yaman, she had a single puppy, the successful
bitch Ch. Al-Yaman Fairuuzi.
Vinca and his sister Vivat, imported by
the Reidys in 1984 and linebred to Knightellington Rualla Zoulaira,
were by Akeldama Midnight Silk of Farni (Knightellington Mahdi x Knightellington
Ophelia) out of Knightellington Portia, another noted courser. Back
in 1978, Vincent Reidy received word from Mrs. Vera Watkins of what
she described as a "connoisseurs litter", a breeding between Rabia Anaza
Min Ramli and Windswift Jibli, a granddaughter of the Kuwaitian descent
Saluki Taufaan Sharqi. NZ and AUST Ch. Windswift Zahwa was a 24 inches
tall cream bitch who became the first English import to receive the
dual championship title. She was fast and eager for the lure. Mated
to Vinca in 1985, Zahwa produced Ch. Al-Yaman Emiir, a dedicated courser.
Pairing Emiir and Vivat, both red, resulted in two marvelous reds, the
male Ihsaan and the female Ishahana, both champions.
Ch. Al-Yaman Fairuuzi,
with 3 Best In Shows to her name, was then bred back to her uncle, Ihsaan,
resulting in Ch. Al-Yaman Jamil, who, bred to the lovely Ishahana, produced
Al-Yaman Malaki, Al-Yaman Hetz Midbar and Al-Yaman Malak al-Caravan.
Of these Hetz lives with Gail Goodman (Midbar) in Arizona, Malak in
Norway with Lotta Brun (Caravan), and Malaki with Karin and Per Nordahl
(El-Cazzino) in Sweden. The Nordahls mated Malaki to their S Ch. Ibinores
Cazzi, an excellent lure-courser of chiefly Windswift lines, and the
great-granddaughter of Taufaan Sharqi.
Taufaan Sharqi, a grizzle male
born August 8, 1963, was the son of the Kuwaitian Taufaan and another
Saluki from Kuwait, Najma Min Sharq, the latter registered in April
of 1964 by Mrs. D. L. Heard, pedigree unknown. Swedish records however
name the bitch Turfa as dam to Najma, and cite her sire, as well as
Taufaan's parents, as "bred by Sheik S. Al Nazir".
Reported to be "of
the smaller type", Taufaan Sharqi sired a litter by Windswift Vashti
in January 1968. From this litter Windswift Talib, bred to Windswift
Shamal, produced Windswift Al Jabir. Jabir was imported to Sweden in
1972 by Mrs. Sigrid Norman (Ibinores). Born August 11, 1971, he was
owned by Mrs. Ingrid Alm.
In the Spring of 1977, Mrs. Karin Hedberg
(Kashmanis) used Jabir on her grizzle bitch, Ch. Wenarjas Washaya. One
of the resulting 3 + 3 pus was the legendary lure courser S Ch. Kashmanis
Kebir. Mated to the Nordahls' Ibinores Zuleika, he sired the equally
successful S Ch. Ibinores Cazzie. As stated earlier, Cazzie with her
precious Windswift/Knightellington/desert lines was paired with those
of Al-Yaman Malaki, producing the red parti-color S Ch. El-Cazzino Cajar
with the wonderful pedigree. Cajar is the sire of the Ibriz U-litter
and my Asheera.
The dam of Asheera and her three siblings is the lovely
black and tan S and DK Ch. Ibriz Raziza, who contributes to Asheera's
pedigree with the wonderful temperament and a unique Turkish infusion
through the line of her dam, the eternally playful grizzle Ibinores
De-hri. De-hri's paternal line goes through Finnish Sahrai and Kirman
lines to mainly Daxlore and Burydown via America. It's De'hri's dam,
Ibinores Amika el Shahana, however, who carries the truly interesting
lines. Amika was sired by Ibinores Safir el Sandawir, himself the son
of S and N Ch. Ibinores Aj Aj Ali Hussein and the bitch Ibinores Lamardine
el Salah Kebah (Granddaughter of the English import Tahawi Mansoor).
Hussein's dam Windswift Khazza was a striking grizzle bitch imported
to Sweden by Mrs. Sigrid Norman. Khazza's sire was the famous Ch. Bedouin
Caliph, her mother Windswift Shahana, whose pedigree was heavily influenced
by Sabbah the Windswift.
The dam of Amika was Ibinores Jhahna, sired
by Ibinores Timsahl, son of the immensely influential Int. Ch. Asphodel
Arabis. Jhahna's dam in turn is of real interest, as she was none other
than Sindah Manik, another of Mrs. Sigrid Norman's wonderful imports.
Manik, bred by Mr. John Boutflower, was imported to Sweden in 1972.
She was the daughter of yet another great courser, Knightellington Esmail,
out of the smooth bitch Sindah Karob. Karob's line died out in England
in 2 generations and was thought by many to be extinct. Karob was of
wonderful desert stock, her sire the legendary Kumasi Sharif, son of
the Hendersons' Kumasi Rihan (Kattaf x Laaba) and Kamasi Dhiba, a smooth
bitch out of smooth parents (Gassab x Risha). Rihan, a feathered parti-color,
was given to Colonel Victor Henderson at about 18 months of age. He
was bred by Sheik Shaker Sheik Kamendar in Southern Iraq and was said
to have taken down 43 gazelle. Dhiba, in turn, was a red/fawn smooth
bred on the Iraq/Iran border in 1955 by Sheik Chasib Miftin. She is
said to have arrived at 8 weeks of age, having traveled some 180 miles
to the Hendersons, escorted by 8 armed men! Both dogs were imported
to England in '57.
Karob's dam was Sindah Chorus, imported to England
from a Turkish village in Cyprus by Mr. John Boutflower in 1961, pedigree
unknown. This rare line thought to have been lost forever makes a unique
addition to a marvelous pedigree with a heavy desert influence.
I am
very proud of my little Asheera with her lovely pedigree that contains
such a multitude of fine coursing hounds. She is a treasure in every
sense and one I hope to have with me for a long time to come.
Sources:
The Saluqi: Coursing Hound of the East, Gail Goodman
Svenska Salukiringens
Jubileumsbok 1968-78, 1983, 1988 and 1993
Finnish Saluki publications
The Saluki: Book of British Champions, 1923-73
© Micaela Lehtonen
Previously published in the SPDBS Newsletter
in 1999
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