Rinaldo Del Gallo, III
By: Rinaldo Del Gallo, III
Perhaps on the 100th anniversary of a great event, much mention should be made of the centennial celebration. 100 years ago a horse named KSAR (FR) ch. H, 1918 {3-n} won his second Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. His 7th dam is the great mare Pocahontas (1837) and a strong case can be made that apart from her immediate sons, Ksars is her most important descendant.
While it was only the third running of the Arc, it was then a gala event. Eight horses have won the Arc two times, with Ksar being the first. In Ksar’s 15 starts he won 11 times and was second 3 times, coming out of the money only once.
Ksar’s only out of the money performance was an odd one, the Grand Prix de Paris, then run at 3,000 meters. Unlike the Arc, the Grand Prix de Paris was first run in 1863, making it 4 years older than the Belmont Stakes, America’s oldest classic. According to Wikipedia, it was one France’s premier race until the Arc came along. It is still a big race to this day and a Group 1 event.
Ksar was regally bred. His dam, KIZIL KOURGAN (FR) ch. M, 1899 {3-n} won the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches (loosely the French 1,000 Guineas), Prix de Diane (loosely the French Oaks), Prix Lupin (a major race that ran from 1854 to 2004 and was open to both genders), and the Grand Prix de Paris.
And this is where it gets interesting. Ksar’s sire was BRULEUR (FR) b. H, 1910 {4-d}, a horse 11 years younger than Ksar’s dam, also won the Grand Prix de Paris. Bueleur was a three time leading sire in France, no doubt in a large part to Ksar himself. So as fate would have it, when Ksar retired he was the world’s all-time money earner. He was only out of the money once, in the one race won by both his sire and dam. Perhaps it would not be odd if Ksar was an ordinary horse–but he not only the best of his crop, he was one of the best of his generation.
Ksar’s dam KIZIL KOURGAN (FR) had another son, KENILWORTH (FR) b. H, 1905 {3-n}, who was a stakes winner and stakes place, coming in 2nd in the Prix Lupin that was won by Ksar and their dam Kizil Kourgan. Kenilworth became a significant sire himself in Australia.
Perhaps Ksar’s failure to come in the money in the Grand Prix de Paris is matched by the star SCEPTRE (GB) b. M, 1899 {16-h}. Though Sceptre won the English filly triple crown and the 2,000 Guineas against the boys to boot, she too was unplaced in the Grand Prix de Paris in the race Kizil Kourgan won. As stated in Wikipedia, “In 1902 Sceptre became the only racehorse to win four British Classic Races outright. Previously, in 1868, Formosa won the same four races but dead-heated in the 2,000 Guineas Stakes.” So two great horses–some of the greatest of all time–lost that race and didn’t even come in the money.
It is interesting to look at pedigree of Ksar for it was Byerley Turk sire line everywhere. Ksar’s sire, dam’s sire, second dam’s sire, and third dam’s sire were of the Byerley Turk sire line. Ksar’s sire’s dam was also of the Byerley Turk sire line, making Ksar 3s x 2 d OMNIUM (FR) ch. H, 1892 {22-c}.
Ksar’s second dam was KASBAH (FR) b. M, 1892 {3-n}, who like Kizil Kourgan won the Prix de Diane. Kashbah was second in the the Poule d’Essai des Pouliches won by her daughter Kizil Kourgan.
A one-time leading sire in France, all of the recent Byerley Turk sire line horses descend from Ksar. A hundred years ago the Byerley Turk sire line was strong in France, Ksar was the world’s leading money earner, and perhaps it looked like the Byerley Turk sire line would never die. Ksar’s descendants included 6 Arc winners, and the Derby winners BLAKENEY (GB) br. H, 1966 {20-c} and DR DEVIOUS (IRE) ch. H, 1989 {1-t}. Dr. Devious would be a 3 year old champion.
There is the Breeder’s Cup Classic winner ARCANGUES (USA) ch. H, 1988 {8-f}, PRECISIONIST (USA) b. H, 1981 {11-g} (who was 2nd in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, won the Breeders’ Cup Sprint and won the Woodward), LORENZACCIO GB) ch. H, 1965 {5-h}(one of only two horses to beat Nijinsky, and did it in the Champions stakes), AMBEROID (USA) dkb/br. H, 1963 {8-c}(Belmont and Wood winner), DOMEDRIVER (IRE) dkb/br. H, 1998 {8-f}(Breeder’s Cup Mile winner beating Rock of Gibraltar),and RIDGEWOOD PEARL (GB) ch. M, 1992 {14-a}(Breeder’s Cup Mile, Coronation Stakes, and 2 other group 1s).
Ksar has four descendants that won the Two Thousand Guineas. One of them, MY BABU (FR) b. H, 1945 {1-w}, came to the US and was a good sire here. My Babu was the sire of 2,000 guineas winner OUR BABU (IRE) b. H, 1952 {19-b}. The phenomenal racer and sire DJEBEL (FR) b. H, 1937 {5-j} also won the 2,000 guineas.
Eventually, Ksar was sent to the United States but had so few successful offspring here that few Americans know he is actually buried here. In 1941, Ksar’s daughter HILLBLOND (USA) ch. M, 1937 {13-c} won the Hawthorne Endurance Stakes. “The KSAR, FAMOUS SIRE, IS DEAD IN VIRGINIA; French Horse Succumbs to Internal Hemorrhage-Welbourne Joke Is Destroyed” was published in the New York Times and is dated Sept. 16, 1937 and like so many thing on the Internet, behind a paywall. Ksar had 27 offspring born in the United States according to pedigree query dot com, born in 1937 and 1938. None of his American offspring would be close to a Tourbillon, a three time leading sire in France.
While a great sire of sires, Ksar is not ubiquitous in the breed. But he did make it into the breed. For instance, LALUN (USA) b. M, 1952 {19-b} descends tail male from Ksar, and her son NEVER BEND (USA) br. H, 1960 {19-b} is fairly entrenched in the breed, as is her son BOLD REASON (USA) b. H, 1968 {19-b}. Never Bend is the sire of Mills Reef.
Sadler’s Wells dam Fairy Bridge is by Bold Reason, assuring Ksar will be in the breed as long as there is a breed. And there’s AP Indy, whose fourth dam is MISSY BABA (USA) b. M, 1958 {3-l}, sired by My Babu. Missy Baba’s son RAJA BABA (USA) b. H, 1968 {3-l} was the 1980 North American leading sire. By way of a random test (biased because it is a European race, of the 20 horses that started in this year’s Arc, I believe only two horse are free of Ksar’s blood: the Japanese horse DO DEUCE (JPN) b. C, 2019 {3-d} is free of Ksar’s blood. The mare GRAND GLORY (GB) b. M, 2016 {9-h} is Ksar free as well. I thought Mishriff might fit the bill because he has not Sadler’s Wells blood, but he has BAHRI (USA) dkb/br. H, 1992 {13-c} as the sire of his third dam, and that brings in Ksar through a double dose of Djebel. I see Ksar four times in the pedigree of TITLEHOLDER (JPN) b. C, 2018 {9-c} who lead the way through most of the Arc (Blakeney, Sadlers’ Wells, Shirley Heights (Never Bend), and LORENZACCIO.) I also see Ksar in KING KAMEHAMEHA (JPN) b. H, 2001 {22-d}—the dam MANFATH (IRE) dkb/br. M, 1991 {22-d} has Mill Reef (Never Bend) and Blakeney.
According to the tbheritage, “In 1935, at the age of seventeen, Ksar was sold to Abram S. Hewitt, an American breeder and racing authority and exported to stand stud at Hewitt’s Montana Hall Stud near Millwood, Virginia. The old stallion had a rough ocean crossing, falling critically ill on the journey. In Virginia, he sired just two crops, but got nothing of the class he got in France. Ksar, did, though, exert an influence in jumping pedigrees, and several international show jumpers carried his blood in their veins.” TBheritage continues in an article written by Elizabeth Martiniak, “Ksar died in September, 1937, aged nineteen, at Montana Hall from an internal hemorrhage. He was buried at the farm, where a monument to the great French ex-patriate was erected over his grave.” While I cannot pinpoint where Ksar was buried, let alone find a picture of his grave, somewhere in the United States, somewhere around Millwood, Virginia, is that great horse that won the Arc d’ Triomphe twice one hundred years ago, by the name of Ksar.
