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In celebration of the incomparable contribution the Farrell family has made to the advancement of the Arabian breed over the course of half a century, we continue our journey back across the decades and discover the success of the modern Mulawa Arabian through the lens of each of the transformative chief sires who helped to create the instantly recognisable and universally admired ‘Mulawa style’ the global community readily recognises today.

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The Mulawa story continues with TS al Malik, the Brazilian-bred super sire whose male lineage has proven to be the most predominant in the new millennium.

Discovered on the same trip to Scottsdale in 1996 when Fame Maker R (Fame VF x Inshallah El Shaklan) sold at public auction, TS al Malik was the stallion the Farrells did not know they needed until he burst into their lives at a Midwest Training Centre presentation of sale horses. Imposingly tall, indisputably masculine and commandingly charismatic, the young TS al Malik proved to be exactly what the Farrells were seeking, with his impressive scope and substance, consummate conformation and long, sweeping stride. Just a few months over three years of age that February, the Brazilian-bred TS al Malik made an enthralling impression not only on Julie and Greg but also on the officials adjudicating the Scottsdale Show, as he was named Reserve Senior Male Champion by week’s end, then already proudly in the ownership of Mulawa.

TS al Malik taking the Reserve Senior Male Championship title in 1996 at Scottsdale with David Boggs. Credit Mulawa Archives

While TS al Malik’s phenotype was exactly what the Mulawa programme needed, his pedigree was replete with bloodlines almost entirely untested within the breeding herd. The Farrells were taking a huge risk on his intensely linebred Ferzon (Ferneyn x Fersara by Ferseyn) and Raffles (Skowronek x Rifala by Skowronek) pedigree, lightly blended with a dash of the Polish-bred legend Bask, the Russian icon Naborr (Negatiw x Łagodna by Posejdon) and straight Egyptian breed pillar Morafic (Nazeer x Mabrouka by Sid Abouhom). The presence of another vital link in his pedigree, that of the straight Spanish sire of renown Barich de Washoe (Zurich x Aldebaran II by Malvito), would prove monumentally consequential, compounding the Spanish bloodlines introduced through Fame Maker R with great effect and forever elevating the trademark type of the modern Mulawa Arabian. Of all the stallions masterfully incorporated into the Mulawa programme across five-plus decades of existence, TS al Malik, who would become the third Australian National Senior Male Champion from among the imports, was unquestionably the greatest risk genotypically, a gamble that is still reaping unprecedented dividends almost thirty years later and counting.

TS al Malik at Mulawa. Credit Mulawa Archives

Over the course of the next two decades, it was the phenomenally prepotent straight Spanish genetics in TS al Malik’s heritage that would prove to be most reliably inherited by his descendants, with the Barich de Washoe phenotype still omnipresent in the vast majority of the Mulawa breeding herd of the new millennium. The common denominator shared by the most important Mulawa-bred sires, Klass (ex Karmaa by Kaborr) and Allegiance MI (Magnum Forty Four x Audacia by Parkview Audacious), is TS al Malik, as is Karmaa (ex AN Marietta by AN Malik), the undisputed Queen of Mulawa for whom TS al Malik was purposefully purchased in an effort to maximise her boundless genetic contribution. While Ambition (Bask x Bint Ambara by Comet) may have laid the foundation upon which Mulawa’s earliest successes were built, it is the masterful blend of TS al Malik with Karmaa, the result of which was an amplification of Spanish-infused bloodlines, that has been responsible for Mulawa’s greatest breeding success and international acclaim over the past quarter century.

Klass. Credit Stuart Vesty
Allegiance MI. Credit Stuart Vesty
Parkview Audacious. Credit Mulawa Archives

In addition to the profound impact of Klass, Allegiance and Parkview Audacious (TS al Malik x Aliha Bint Nizr by Anaza El Nizr) as sires of significance, TS al Malik left a lasting legacy through his superlative daughters and generations of athletically gifted descendants. Several of the most highly decorated and accomplished Arabian athletes ever bred in Australia count TS al Malik as an essential ancestor, including multiple-Australian National Champion show superstars Aamahni (TS al Malik x Aliha Bint Nizr), Allegiant MI (Allegiance MI x MI Angel by TS al Malik), Sovereign Wings (Magnum Psyche x On Angel Wings by TS al Malik), Fire Alert (TS al Malik x Fire Flame by Fame Maker R), Mulawa Bronze Wings (Magnum Psyche x On Angel Wings), The Marksman (GLF Apollo x Mulawa Marieta by TS al Malik), Gold N Wings (Fame Maker R x On Angel Wings), Magnate (TS al Malik x J Athena by Warranty), Allegro MI (Allegiance MI x Krystal MI by Gazal al Shaqab) and Mulawa Vivacious (Parkview Audacious x Perception by Vision), as well as international endurance achievers Mulawa Angelus (TS al Malik x M Angelique by Vision) and Kountess MI (TS al Malik x Mulawa Karismaa by Magnum Psyche).

Aamahni. Credit Stuart Vesty
Allegiant MI. Credit Mulawa Archives
Left to right: Gold N Wings, Sovereign Wings, Mulawa Bronze Wings. Credit Stuart Vesty
Mulawa Angelus at the World Equestrian Games. Credit Mulawa Archives

In addition, four of the highest profile Mulawa-bred females on the global stage –Mediterranean and Arab Countries Gold Champion Klassical Dream MI (Klass x Mustangs’s Magnum by Magnum Forty Four), All Nations Cup Gold Champion Venice MI (Allegiance MI x Valentine MI by DA Valentino), Dubai International Gold Champion A Vision MI (Allegiance MI x Always Valentine MI by DA Valentino), and United States National, Canadian National and Scottsdale Champion Madora MI (Allegiance MI x Melody MI by TS al Malik) – are all blessed with the invaluable genetic contribution of TS al Malik.

Klassical Dream MI. Credit Mulawa Archives
Madora MI. Credit Kelly Campbell

TS al Malik was an incredibly high energy horse with a highly intelligent, inherently curious and abundantly playful nature. He would spend hours playing with toys – a rope ball designed for large dogs, a traffic cone – known in Australia as a witch’s hat! – or a large inflatable ball, and was known to create his own amusement by pulling long thick reeds of grass surrounding his paddock and twirling them around while galloping at high speed. This innate inclination for play, as well as the super abundance of energy, was inherited by nearly all the TS Al Malik sons, including his most important heir Klass. During the several seasons both father and son were paddocked side by side below the main house in Sydney, the pair would spend the vast majority of their days challenging each other to high-speed reed twirling contests, often tossing the reeds between paddocks with over enthusiasm.

TS al Malik with the witch’s hat. Credit Stuart Vesty

The Arabian breed continues to be enhanced with the best of the TS al Malik legacy, accomplished, most remarkably, with just 53 lifetime Australian-bred foals, including his exceptionally long, elegant and upright forehand, his size, substance and strength, his breed ideal length and slope of shoulder, his large, dark eyes, and his commanding confidence and charisma.

Greg, Julie and Jane with TS al Malik, the last photograph of them taken together in 2017. Credit Stuart Vesty

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