Piaff: 30 January 1997 – 10 July 2022
Poland has bid farewell to yet another of her most beloved chief sires with the passing of Piaff, who was laid to rest at home in Janów Podlaski. An international icon and celebrated athlete, Piaff left his mark in the show-ring with an impressive list of accomplishments, including Polish National Champion Junior Male and Senior Male in Europe, and United States National Top Ten, Regions 2 & 3 Champion, and Santa Barbara (AHASFV) Champion Senior Champion Stallion as well as Scottsdale Reserve Champion Sport Horse Stallion In-Hand in North America.
Distinctly masculine and superlatively conformed, Piaff was a horse of uncommon strength and substance. These traits were reliably inherited from a long list of male predecessors, beginning with his desert-bred grandsire, Ilderim or. Ar. (1896), nine generations removed. Rather remarkably, Piaff was the third in a line of four successive Polish National Champion Stallions from this important sire line, a distinction he shares with his grandsire Penitent (Partner x Penza by Faher), his sire Eldon (ex Erotyka by Eufrat) and his son Alert (ex Andaluzja by Sanadik el Shaklan).
Piaff’s maternal lineage is even more illustrious as his legendary dam was none other than Polish National Champion Pipi (Banat x Pilarka by Palas). Still unrivalled as the leading producer of champion progeny in the long history of Polish Arabian breeding, Pipi is an Aristocrat Dam of unparalleled worth through whom many of the most universally admired members of Janów Podlaski’s world-famous ‘P’ line descend, including the meritorious matrons Pilar (Fawor x Pipi) and Palmeta (Ecaho x Pilica by Fawor), and the unforgettable Platinum World Champion Pinga (Gazal al Shaqab x Pilar).
Photographer unknown
With the passing of Piaff, an essential link to many of the most esteemed horses in the Polish Arabian breeding programme of the last century comes to a close. Through his many celebrated descendants, may his light continue to shine brightly, enriching the breed with the best of the Polish Arabian horse for generations to come.
Photography Fotograf Mattsson unless stated.
