Concluding our reflective piece looking back at the influential Crabbet sire, General Grant. This article was written in 2012 and is kindly shared by the author. It was first published in The Arabian Breeders’ Magazine in summer 2019. For part one click here, and click here for part two.
General Gold
General Gold [as seen on the cover image] was in General Grant’s last foal crop in 1973 and he was his outstanding son in the UK. He had an exceptional showing career and was Supreme Male Champion in 1979 at the Nationals. He was bred by Caroline Murray from her very successful Golden Treasure (Blue Domino x Gleaming Gold), who won in-hand at the highest level. Once again, the cross of General Grant on Blue Domino gave a superb result. General Gold had his sire’s very correct conformation and great shoulder combined with Golden Treasure’s style. He had outstanding movement, that probably accounts for the performance success of many of his descendants. General Gold did what his sire struggled to do, in the UK at least – to consistently produce top-class stallions. General Gold’s best known sons were: Golden Cavalier (ex Crystal Gold), Golden Samurai (ex Amaveda), Valiant Gold (ex Dreaming Gold), General Lee Gold (ex Leda), Golden Sunfire (ex Sunset), exported to the USA, and Elegant Gold (ex Bright Marina).
Golden Cavalier was bred by Mrs Murray and bought by Mrs Cooke. He nicked extremely well with Mrs Cooke’s mares, particularly those by Ahmoun (Ludomino x Shtaura) and many of his descendants have gone on to excel in performance. Jane Kadri bred Golden Cavalier’s most famous foal, the incredible Imad. Much has already been written about this wonderful stallion who had an outstanding performance career, as well as breeding many beautiful athletic horses. Diana Whittome had Imad from a foal and he crossed extremely well with her female stock descended from Tarantella. Canto (ex Carillion), a grey stallion by Imad, still stands at stud and has a beautiful daughter Silver Cantata (ex Silver Sheba). Daas (ex Dancing Queen), also bred by Jane Kadri is an impressive stallion who has some promising youngstock, including Ethaar (ex Gold Elyse), Overall Crabbet Champion at the Nationals last year. Maiad has already been mentioned and perfectly demonstrates the quality of Imad’s offspring. Sorrento (ex Sarafina) won the stallion class at the Welsh Crabbet Show last year and he is a horse that moves! Illuminate, a beautiful double Imad grey mare out of Illaria (Imad x Extravaganza), was Overall In-hand Champion at the Welsh Crabbet Show in 2009. Festoon (ex Fiesta Magica), Farfalla (ex Festoon), Silvern Surprise (ex Silvern Princess), Dhay (Spearmint x Daleela), Incandescent (ex Illaria), Solero (ex Sarafina), Autumn Dew (ex Autumn Sunlight), Sunlight’s Imadge (ex Autumn Sunlight) and Stormlite Royal are just some of the successful young horses with the blood of Imad.
Grecian Gilt was a chestnut mare by General Gold, from the illustrious Silver Gilt (Indian Gold x Silver Fire) line mare, Golden Gilt (by Bright Shadow). She produced two excellent stallions, Mystic Gilt (by Myros) who sired fifteen foals, and the 100% Crabbet stallion Grecian Idyll (by Silvern Idyll). Grecian Idyll has a Crabbet daughter, Binley Silvern Gem (ex Lou Lou) doing well in endurance with the Hawes family, with his grandson being the aforementioned Marbon Mastarpiece. Binley Golden Flame (ex Silvern Pearl) has sired his first 100% Crabbet foal for Mrs Raikes in Scotland.
The only other source of General Gold blood in 100% Crabbet breeding is through Prince Iman (by Indian Idyll), a son of Princess Gaila (General Gold x Princess Alia). Again, he inherits the good shoulder and has fabulous movement.
Golden Samurai was another very successful stallion bred by the Hedleys from their exquisite mare Amaveda (Count Rapello x Samaveda), therefore having two lines to Samsie. He was Reserve Junior World Champion in 1981 and Reserve Senior Male Champion in 1983 in the Nations’ Cup at Ascot. He produced the outstanding stallions Golden Scimitar (ex Blue Satin) and World Champion Shogun (ex Fawziea). Shogun sired several good performance horses including Taragun (ex Taretta) and CAS Kazurai (ex Kazminta). Briery Close still has a number of Golden Samurai’s descendants and they have proved themselves when crossed with a variety of bloodlines.
General Lee Gold was a good performance horse, excelling at dressage and eventing in the ownership of Kate Fox. Although he only sired fourteen foals, he has lines continuing through Red House Ziona (ex Zilati’s Jewel), her best known descendant being Red House Zinderella (by Red House Faraoh), Reserve Overall Crabbet Champion at the British Nationals in 2009.
Top prize winner Sianah Gold (St Simon x Autumn Gold) produced the mare Dezert Rose (by General Gold), who produced Gold Seyal (by Spearmint), a chestnut stallion of terrific movement. He was used by Tina Cooke and is the sire of Gold Elyse (ex Elysha), dam of Crabbet Champion Ethaar.
General Grant had long lasting influence on the breeding of Arabians both here and abroad. He proved an outstanding sire of broodmares, and later in life produced a once in a lifetime son, who made an incalculable contribution to the success of the Crabbet horse.
