Gazal AL SHAQUAB
To anyone who loves Arabian horses, the words “Al Shaqab” conjure up visions of equine excellence, of almost impossibly beautiful horses being awarded the highest honors. The name, however, is far older than that. It signifies the site where Qatar fought and won its final battle for independence against the Ottoman Empire, and it is, indeed, on this very site that the now world-famous stud farm was first established in 1992.
There is a certain poetic symmetry in basing a breeding center for the former war horses of the Bedouins on the site of a historic battle, and even more in its being the birthplace of a stallion who literally conquered the world. As in the legend of the creation of the Arabian horse, in which God, having shaped the Horse from the South Wind, told him to “fly without wings and conquer without a sword,” this particular hero needed neither an army, nor any weapons.
“No one who was there that evening in September 2017 will forget the moment the majestic dark bay stallion entered the ring with Michael Byatt. It was one of the most thrilling and moving moments in the long history of an event not lacking in highlights. After all, what can be more thrilling than seeing a living legend in person?”
No other horse is linked as inexorably to the rapid rise and enduring success of Al Shaqab as Gazal. He was one of the first foals born there. He was the first horse with the Al Shaqab suffix to be named World Champion – the first of many, most of them his descendants. It was Gazal who first made Al Shaqab a household name in the industry. Now in his twenty-fifth year, he is without doubt the most
