KARMAA

A Tribute to the Queen of Mulawa

Only when reflecting back across decades of lives lived, loves lost, triumphs realized, tragedy endured, obstacles overcome and serendipitous circumstances celebrated does one truly realize the profound influence of those special individuals who have impacted our world. In all of our lives there has been that once-in-a-lifetime horse, whose presence has forever changed our destiny, not only within the realm of our equine endeavours, but by also altering our perspective of possibility. For the Farrell Family and Mulawa Arabian Stud, that horse was KARMAA, an impeccably bred mare of extraordinary grace and beauty, who was rightfully adored by all who had the privilege to know her. It as though karmic intention brought together the lives of the Farrells and their beloved KARMAA, the result of which has been an abundance of infinite rewards, blessing generation after generation as well as the Arabian horse community all over the world.

KARMAA’s story begins in the United States, during the heyday of the 1980’s, when the demand for the Arabian horse worldwide was at its zenith and prices were at their peak. Bred by industry leader Tom Chauncey Arabians, KARMAA was the younger of two full sisters sired by Chauncey’s own World Champion Stallion KABORR (Naborr x Bint Kholameh by Adibiyez) and out of Jay & Dorothy Stream’s United States Reserve National Champion Mare AN MARIETA (AN Malik x AN Fayrosa by Fadjeyn), who was then on lease to the Cable TV magnate. Since the crowning of KAJORA (x Edjora by Exelsjor) as United States National Champion in 1983, a mare later destined to impact worldwide breeding on an epic scale as the dam of GAZAL AL SHAQAB (Anaza El Farid), the daughters of KABORR were in high demand as show and breeding horses. Feminine and elegant, with extreme length and shape of neck, KABORR daughters were consistently blessed further with smooth harmonious proportions, strong toplines, solid structure and an overall aristocratic presence. The combination of these attributes, in conjunction with regal refinement, large dark eyes, length, lightness and upright carriage of neck, black vascular skin, superbly balanced conformation, matronly substance, and the inherent athleticism of AN MARIETA, made KARMAA an exceptional physical specimen. Substantiated further by a rich genetic heritage of the world’s best bloodlines from Poland, Spain, Crabbet Park, Russia, Egypt and North America, KARMAA was a genotypic and phenotypic powerhouse awaiting the right stewards to chart her destiny and maximize her infinite potential.

Those special people were introduced into KARMAA’s life in February of 1989, during the annual migration of Arabian enthusiasts the world over to the mecca of the Arabian horse show world in Scottsdale, Arizona. Consigned as a premier lot in the Tom Chauncey Arabians Select Auction, KARMAA was spotted by the honeymooning Greg & Julie Farrell of Mulawa Arabians, aspiring young breeders leading a family-based breeding program just outside Sydney in the rolling verdant hills of New South Wales, Australia. Having been a frequent visitor to Scottsdale since the early 1970’s when the Mulawa program was in its infancy, Greg was intimately familiar with the genetic strengths and redeeming qualities of both KABORR and AN MARIETA, and an ardent fan of her stellar pedigree, especially the connection to her Polish, Spanish & Crabbet ancestry. The very same day that KARMAA was first spotted, Greg & Julie fatefully met for dinner with close friends Harry & Sue Cooper of Seehorse Video. Lively dinner conversation turned to enthusiastic discussion of available sale prospects, with both couples certain that had discovered the ideal mare to enhance the Mulawa breeding program. Unbeknownst to each couple prior to the meeting, both had unequivocally selected KARMAA as the first choice for Mulawa. With this affirmation, Greg & Julie were determined to bring KARMAA home to Australia, confident that her distinctive beauty and celebrated heritage would create a lasting impact not only on the Mulawa breeding program, but upon the Arabian industry at large across Australia.

The excitement of the Scottsdale purchase paled in comparison to the enthusiastic support KARMAA received upon her arrival to the opposite end of the world in May of 1989. Not since the importation of the first BASK son, AMBITION (x Bint Ambara by Comet), to Australia was the continent more abuzz about a fresh and promising Mulawa import from overseas. Greg was eager to showcase KARMAA amongst the country’s fiercest competition, thus the decision was made to prepare her for the National Stud Show, then the largest Arabian horse show in the Southern Hemisphere and the third largest Arabian halter show worldwide behind Scottsdale and the British Nationals. Debuting in November as a late-three year old, but competing as a Senior Mare in the Mares Aged Four & Over division due to fact that Australian horses all turn a year older on 01 August, KARMAA dominated the competition, captivated an enchanted audience and created a groundswell of ardent supporters on her way to capture the title of National Stud Show Senior Champion Mare. The momentum of this initial victory carried over to a triumphant win as Senior Champion Female three months later at one of the very first East Coast Championships, a innovative and glamourous event that would later eclipse the National Stud Show in importance and prestige.

Although the Australian Championship title would never be one KARMAA could claim in her own show career, her long list of superlative descendants would come to dominate the elite event over the ensuing quarter century. Incorporated into the broodmare band in 1991, KARMAA would go on to produce twelve foals in eighteen years of production. She proved a superior producer of females, blessing Mulawa with nine daughters in total, while her three excellent sons would all stand as chief sires of champion get for three different continental breeding programs.

KARMAA’s inclination for producing females was evident from the onset, with her first three foals all fillies sired by three different Mulawa chief sires. The eldest were sired by two different sons of the pure Polish EUNI (Bandos x Eunice by Comet), a Janow Podlaski bred matriarch purchased from Dr. Hans Nagel in Germany. The first of these was KARMIA (by the Jamil son Vision), an elegant and ultra-refined grey beauty born in 1982 and sold at an early age to Michael & Moira Matthews of Lea-Ma Park Stud in Queensland after producing two champion progeny for Mulawa. KARMIA became an important foundation mare for the Matthewses, consistently producing high quality champion offspring. KARMIA remains to this day the only KARMAA daughter ever sold from the Mulawa program.

The second daughter born the following season most appropriately received the Mulawa moniker as MULAWA ARIA, a distinctly Polish-looking as well as Polish-influenced mare sired by the Mulawa-bred AMBITION son ARRIVAL. Like her sire and grandsire, ARIA matured into a classic flea-bitten aristocrat, reflecting the strong influence of her double-Comet heritage. A lifetime favorite of Greg’s younger sister Jane, MULAWA ARIA became an important member of the broodmare band at an early age, producing her first foal at age four. This was the FAME MAKER R son ADVOCATE, sold to the Llewellyn Family in New Zealand, making him the first of the KARMAA descendants to find a new home outside of Australia. MULAWA ARIA produced two more champion sons, AZTEC (GLF Apollo) and THE ASTRONOMER (TS Al Malik) in subsequent years respectively, both of whom have given many years of happiness to their new owners. For her fourth foal, MULAWA ARIA was bred to the young TS AL MALIK son PARKVIEW AUDACIOUS, a multiple East Coast Champion bred by the Bonney Family with an especially beautiful dam: Australian Champion ALIHA BINT NIZR (Anaza El Nizr x Warrayna Baskette). This cross proved to be ARIA’s best, resulting in five successive full sisters between 2002 and 2011. The eldest ASTORIA (2002), produced only one foal before her untimely death. Succumbing to colic while nursing ASTOR (Magnum Forty Four), ASTORIA legacy lives on through her son’s triumphs as an East Coast, National Stud Show & Australian National Champion, with titles won in both halter and performance. Two look-alike sisters were produced back-to-back in 2008 & 2009: AURA MI and ALLURE MI, respectively. Both have produced quality fillies by MAGNUM FORTY FOUR, and look to extend the contribution of their dam with prolific promise. The youngest of the quintet, AVIANCE MI, has the size, scope and style of her sire, with the elegance and athleticism of her dam. The expectations for AVIANCE are very high as she enters the breeding program in the spring of 2015. Sadly, AVIANCE MI was MULAWA ARIA’s last gift to the Arabian horse world, as she was lost in October of 2012 in foal to World Champion GAZAL AL SHAQAB.

It is through MULAWA ARIA’s second daughter that her most significant legacy is thriving in Australia. This is Mulawa’s beloved and brillantly named AUDACIA (2004), an East Coast Champion Yearling Filly and unquestionably the most valuable daughter of her late sire. Big, broody and perfectly balanced, AUDACIA is an uncommonly feminine and elegant mare of captivating style with an inherently powerful athleticism. Although she is more phenotypically representative of her sire as well as her granddam KARMAA, AUDACIA has consistently produced foals that are definitively reminiscent of her dam in design. Refined, dry and superbly conformed, the AUDACIA progeny are all blessed with extreme length and shape of neck, strong smooth coupling, effortless athletic ability and commanding charisma. Thus far, AUDACIA has produced four champion daughters, two each by GUILIANO (Legacy of Fame x SC Psavannah by Padrons Psyche) and WH JUSTICE (Magnum Psyche x Vona Sher-Rena by El Sher-Mann). The winningest of these is the natural show superstar MI APHRODITE (Guiliano), an East Coast, National Stud Show, Queensland Gala Event, NSW State Titles and Victorian Classic Champion. Now proudly owned by Renee Edwards & Christopher Cook, MI APHRODITE is not only the most successful show ring descendant of MULAWA ARIA, she is also the most decorated daughter of her Australian, East Coast & National Stud Show Champion sire. APHRODITE’s full sister ACTRESS MI has been an Australian National Top Ten Champion, while the younger of the WH JUSTICE daughters, AMBER MI, was champion her first time out in 2014 as National Stud Show Champion Yearling Filly. Elder sister AJUSTINE MI remains undefeated for owner Tegan Harris, having won successive Supreme Champion Female honours in South Australia. Mulawa has retained AUDACIA’s oldest daughter VALENCIA MI (DA Valentino) to further the contribution of MULAWA ARIA in the breeding program. As an aristocrat dam of five champions and incontrovertibly one of the very best young producers in the herd, AUDACIA has earned a permanent spot within the breeding program and the infinite gratitude of the Farrells.

While the daughters of AUDACIA have proven more than enough to substantiate her enduring value, it is her only son that looks to secure AUDACIA’s, and subsequently MULAWA ARIA’s, legacy on the broadest and most significant scale. This is the ever dynamic and indomitable ALLEGIANCE MI, the eldest of AUDACIA’s foals and the most significant son of the late great MAGNUM FORTY FOUR (Magnum Psyche x WH Nashahna by Bey Shah). Shown just once as a yearling, ALLEGIANCE earned the title of National Stud Show Champion Yearling Colt in November 2009, before shattering his hock in a paddock accident just days before Christmas. Given a very grim prognosis for recovery, the decision was made to allow ALLEGIANCE the opportunity to survive following casting of the leg and stall rest for over six months. The effervescent ALLEGIANCE proved to be the ideal patient, healing quickly and with limited scarring, resulting in a surprisingly mobile joint and no detectable lameness.

A top prospect for the international show ring prior to his accident, ALLEGIANCE’s path was forever altered, with his destiny now permanently grounded at Mulawa. He was relocated to the main breeding facility at Alabama in the Upper Hunter Valley region of New South Wales near Scone, Australia’s Horse Capital, in the spring of his two year old year, to begin a trial period as a potential herd sire. Mulawa had yet to breed a replacement for MAGNUM FORTY FOUR, and ALLEGIANCE not only fulfilled the phenotypic expectations of a superior stallion prospect, but was genetically reinforced by four successive generations of superlative female ancestors.

The first ALLEGIANCE MI foals the following season exceeded expectations on every level, securing him a permanent spot on the stallion roster within the Mulawa program. Distinctly ARIA-esque with phenomenally long, upright necks, ultra refinement, aristocratic presence, harmonious proportion, gifted athleticism and naturally charismatic show attitudes, the get of ALLEGIANCE are consistently amongst the best of every Mulawa foal crop since 2011, effortlessly surpassing the foals sired by many of the foreign-bred stallions. The best of the ALLEGIANCE foals include Victorian Classic Champion BEYONCE MI (x LLC Briana by Pyro Thyme SA), Queensland Gala Event Champion ALYIANCE MI (x DM Marcedes True Love by RHR Marcedes), and National Stud Show & East Coast Champion, as well as Victorian Classic Supreme Champion ADVANTAGE MI (x Valentine MI by DA Valentino). Stunning full sisters to both ADVANTAGE MI and ALYIANCE MI were just born this season, with Mulawa retaining seven older daughters of ALLEGIANCE MI for future use in the program. The incorporation of ALLEGIANCE as a Mulawa chief sire could not have been more poignantly timed, as MAGNUM FORTY FOUR was lost in early 2013. Once again karmic intervention worked on the behalf of the Farrells, creating the opportunity for ALLEGIANCE to remain at Mulawa, not only to succeed his sire on the stallion roster, but to extend most prolifically the influence of Mulawa foundation horses AMBITION and EUNI, as well as their son ARRIVAL, within the program.

KARMAA’s third daughter was not only her first non-grey foal, but her inaugural winner in the show ring, a victory earned most appropriately at the National Stud Show as Junior Champion Filly. This was MULAWA KARA MIA MI (GLF Apollo), a flamboyant colorfully marked chestnut with abundance of snort and blow, a powerful animated trot, an elegant upright neck and a gorgeously dished, beautifully refined face. To present day, “KARA” is a treasured member of the Mulawa broodmare band, having proven her worth with five champion offspring and eight female descendants in the program. Still thriving at 19 years of age, MULAWA KARA MIA MI has proven a reliable cross with multiple stallions, nicking remarkably well with the blood of FAME VF, PADRON and GAZAL AL SHAQAB. She was bred the most times to United States, Canadian & Australian National Champion FAME MAKER R (Fame VF x Inschallah El Shaklan), resulting in four foals and three of her five champions. The most dynamic of these was FLAME MAKER, an unstoppable force in the show ring with an extraordinary attitude and explosive trot. He finished his career undefeated, winning at the Australian National Championships each time he was shown, including Freestyle Liberty. Full brother FLAME AFIRE and sister KARI MI FLAME both earned multiple National Top Ten titles at the Australian Championships, with FLAME AFIRE awarded the Reserve National Championship as a Yearling Colt, and KARI MI FLAME following in the footsteps of her dam and granddam as National Stud Show Champion, this time in the yearling filly division.

Both MAGNUM PSYCHE (Padrons Psyche x A Fancy Miracle by Sasaki) and his son MAGNUM FORTY FOUR nicked incredibly well MULAWA KARA MI, resulting in a precious daughter by each stallion retained within the program. Australian National Top Ten & East Coast Top Five Champion MULAWA KIARA (Magnum Psyche) has matured into a cherished producer of high quality foals, the best of which are sired by the KARMAA son KLASS (TS Al Malik). The most successful of these double-KARMAA foals out of MULAWA KIARA is the exotically beautiful KLASSICAL DEVOTION MI, a National Stud Show & Australian National Champion Yearling Filly. Her elder sister KLASSICAL ELEGANCE MI has been added to the elite broodmare band this past season, settling safely in foal to legendary sire GAZAL AL SHAQAB on the first attempt.

While the contribution of MULAWA KIARA grows with importance each passing season, the impact of her three-quarter sister KARESS (Magnum Forty Four) was assured from her very first foals. Both born via embryo transfer in October 2009, KONFIDENCE MI (Klass) and GLAMOUR MI (Gazal Al Shaqab) proved that KARESS was amongst the best young mares in the program. Tall, superbly conformed and impressively athletic, KONFIDENCE MI was named Australian National & East Coast Reserve Champion Yearling Colt, once again proving the wisdom of the double KARMAA cross. Standing briefly with success in the Mulawa program before his exportation to Thailand as a chief sire for a leading performance program, KONFIDENCE left a handful of promising daughters in Australia as well as several champion get. The aptly named GLAMOUR MI was the best of four daughters of GAZAL AL SHAQAB born at Mulawa in 2009, blending perfectly the best attributes of both sire and dam to create a world-class female of perfect proportions, extreme quality and undeniable beauty. GLAMOUR MI produced her first foal in 2014, naturally by KLASS for yet another KARMAA linebred foal, resulting in a look-alike filly showing great potential.

With both KLASS and GAZAL AL SHAQAB proven crosses with KARESS, both were repeated, with additional crosses attempted to GAZAL’s arguably more famous son MARWAN AL SHAQAB (x Little Liza Fame by Fame VF) and his World Champion son ABHA QATAR (x ZT Ludjkalba by Ludjin El Jamaal). Combining the virtue of KARESS with the GAZAL descendants resulted in two champion sons: the beautiful, big trotting South Coast Champion Junior Colt KATAR MI (ABHA Qatar); and the ultra-refined charismatically commanding Victorian Classic Champion Yearling Colt KAVALIER MI (Marwan Al Shaqab). While subsequent crosses with KLASS & GAZAL AL SHAQAB produced fillies out of KARESS, KLASSICAL FAITH MI and KAVALIA MI, respectively, it was the second mating with GAZAL that proved most fortuitous in bringing together the best attributes and genetic merit of both parents.

This stellar individual is KAVALLE MI, an imposing young stallion of faultless conformation and ideal proportion, whose aristocratic presence was evident from the moment he hit the ground. Bearing a striking resemblance to his sire, KAVALLE is also blessed with the inherent elegance and inspiring presence of KARMAA, being uniquely double-KABORR in pedigree through his two most celebrated daughters. Undefeated in Australia as a yearling colt as both Australian National & East Coast Champion, KAVALLE MI was exported to North America as an Aussie two year old, but forced to compete as a three year old with a late October birthdate. In his American show ring debut, two and half year old KAVALLE was unanimously chosen first by all three judges in the class for three year old stallions at Scottsdale 2014, finishing just outside the Scottsdale Reserve Senior Stallion Championship title with one second place and two third place selections. Purchased just prior to the Scottsdale Show by Joanne & Ram Gunabalan of Clarkston, Michigan, KAVALLE would go on to win the titles of Region 10 Champion Stallion as well as United States National Reserve Champion Three Year Old Stallion for his new owners by year’s end.

Realizing the genetic potential of KAVALLE, Mulawa retained frozen semen prior to his export, the first breedings of which have resulted in two exemplary fillies in late 2014. Not surprisingly, both are out of KARMAA related females: the aforementioned AUDACIA and the KLASS daughter MI KLASSIC FANTASY (x Mustang’s Magnum by Magnum Forty Four). Both fillies are extraordinarily feminine and elegant, with KAVALLE’s distinct commanding presence as well as his faultless conformation and harmonious proportion. Like ALLEGIANCE MI before him, a male descendant of KARMAA once again has proven the superior sire, extending the influence of international sire of significance GAZAL AL SHAQAB within the Mulawa program as well as ensuring the lasting legacy of Mulawa chief sire GLF Apollo. 

With all four of her sons having earned championship honours in Australia, KARESS most deservedly joins the ranks of Aristocrat Dams descended directly tail female from KARMAA. Ironically, neither KARESS nor any of her glorious daughters have yet to step into a show ring, an acceptable oversight given their invaluable worth as producers of world-class quality foals. Rest assured, however, that competitive acclaim awaits the female descendants of KARESS in the very near future. Her place among the pantheon of Mulawa’s all-time best producers is secure at just eight years of age, making her contribution to the lasting legacy of KARMAA potentially the most profound and influential of all.                  

One other young daughter of MULAWA KARA MIA MI is also proving her worth in the Mulawa breeding program. The five year old KRYSTAL MI (Gazal Al Shaqab) has produced a particularly typey and self-confident colt by ALLEGIANCE MI this past October, verifying the wisdom yet again in linebreeding KARMAA blood through superior sources.                                  

KARMAA produced her first son in 1998, the exuberantly masculine MAKERS MARK (Fame Maker R). Not only was MAKERS MARK her first male produce, he became earned his dam her first Australian National Championship as a Yearling Colt. Like the first of KARMAA’s daughters, KARMIA, MAKERS MARK was purchased by Lea-Ma Park Arabians in Queensland, where he has created a lasting influence as a chief sire of numerous champions in both halter and performance.

The choice of mating for KARMAA’s fifth foal proved to be most prophetic, the success of which compelled the Farrells to repeat the breeding in four subsequent years. The stallion to which KARMAA confirmed to be most genetically well suited was Mulawa’s recently acquired TS AL MALIK (Hello Barich ELS x BF Tiffany Select by BF Rageymazon), Brazilian National Champion and Scottsdale Reserve Champion, and soon to be National Stud Show and Australian National Champion in his adopted homeland. A blend of the best Spanish and Crabbet bloodlines, with a dose of quality Polish influence, it was no surprise the TS AL MALIK crossed impeccably well with KARMAA, given their similar genotypic heritage. KARMAA was indeed the principal mare in which the Farrells had in mind when selecting TS AL MALIK as the next step in the evolution of the Mulawa program.

Unmistakably masculine with imposing presence, substance and size, TS AL MALIK was the perfect phenotypic complement to the inherent elegance and refinement that KARMAA so consistently gifted each proceeding generation. The initial result of the now famous MALIK-KARMAA cross was the magnificent MAE MARIE, KARMAA’s most look-alike daughter in overall style and grace, with the added substantial structure and three dimensional capacity of her sire. So beloved was MAE, she was the first horse to be honoured with the name of MARIE, commemorating not only Greg & Jane’s mother Dolores Marie, but additionally paying homage to the influence of KARMAA’s legendary dam AN MARIETA. Having matured into a show white goddess of immaculate beauty, MAE possesses the captivating allure of her dam with effortless ease, with those same luminous eyes, that improbably black vascular skin, a pleasing symmetry of harmonious proportion, an undeniably enchanting feminine elegance and a regal air of sophistication. Enhanced further with voluminous scope, a superbly coupled body, and a breed ideal topline from her sire, MAE MARIE would raise the standard of the KARMAA progeny in the show ring, while paving the way for the record breaking accolades of her younger siblings and close relatives within the most recent decade. MAE MARIE won the coveted title of National Stud Show Senior Champion Mare twice, a befitting honour considering that KARMAA first achieved her show ring success at the same event fifteen years prior. The title of Australian Champion would elude MAE MARIE on five separate occasions, having to settle for the National Reserve Championship title twice as a Junior Mare, and National Top Ten Champion thrice as a Senior Mare. MAE MARIE can also boast East Coast Reserve Champion Mare, as well as claim the Champion Mare title at the prestigious Sydney Royal. Now firmly settled into the Mulawa breeding program, MAE MARIE has not surprisingly proven a remarkable cross with ALLEGIANCE MI. Her two double-KARMAA produce show great promise: the impressively complete colt ARISE MI, and the uber-refined MI MARIE, whose inherent value is evident in her name. MAE MARIE is presently in foal to MARWAN AL SHAQAB on behalf of the Qatar Foundation, for a much anticipated foal due early in 2015.

The first KARMAA foal of the new millennium was not only the second of her sons, he would later become her second Australian National Champion. This was KARBON, a long necked, scopey, inherently showy horse more reminiscent of his KABORR heritage. KARBON has earned Australian National Championships in both halter and under saddle in the amateur divisions for the Mepham Family of Meracious Arabians, NSW. He has since sired several champions at major shows throughout the state, while enjoying chief sire status in his new home.

The third mating of KARMAA with TS AL MALIK resulted in the only non-grey foal from the cross: MULAWA MARIETA. A superbly balanced, powerfully athletic mare with a natural show attitude, MARIETA was named Reserve Champion Junior Filly at the East Coast Championships before earning back-to-back National Top Tens in the same division at the Australian Championships. Her son THE MARKSMAN (GLF Apollo) has been a multiple champion in both Queensland and New South Wales, while her young daughter MATISSE MI, remains one of the most promising young daughters of the KARMAA great-grandson ALLEGIANCE MI in residence.

While KARMAA had established a universally acclaimed reputation for consistently producing top quality daughters at the mid-point of her life, she has yet to bless the breed with a son of the same caliber. This all dramatically changed in January of 2003 when she delivered her final foal by TS AL MALIK: a perfectly designed, nobly dignified colt with an undeniable X-factor that Greg insisted be named KLASS. Like his eldest full sister before him, MAE MARIE, KLASS transformed into a strikingly snow-white specimen of perfect proportion prior to his first birthday, making him a surefire standout in the show ring. Rightfully so, he was awarded championship honours his first time out as East Coast Champion Yearling Colt. This win marked the beginning of a record-setting run for KLASS at this prestigious event, with KLASS becoming the first horse ever to win all four available halter titles in every age division: East Coast Champion Yearling Colt, Champion Two Year Old Colt, Champion Junior Stallion (Aged 3-4 Years) and Champion Senior Stallion (Aged 5 & Over). He also duplicated MAE MARIE’s win at the celebrated Sydney Royal, taking home the Senior Stallion Championship as well as the Supreme Arabian Exhibit trophy. With his Junior Championship title at the National Stud Show, KLASS added further glory to his family’s list of achievements at the event, as both his sire and dam, as well as his full sister, were all previous champions. His interstate wins were some of his most memorable, claiming the title of Queensland Challenge Champion Stallion in 2005, and in 2009 at the Werribee Showgrounds just outside of Melbourne, Victoria, KLASS claimed his first Australian Championship as Senior National Champion Stallion. This important victory was the first senior title won by a son or daughter of KARMAA at the Aussie Champs, while at the same time launching yet another record-breaking sweep for KLASS in Australia. In successive years, KLASS followed up his Senior Stallion Championship with two impressive triumphs under saddle: first in 2010 as Australian National Champion Ridden Arabian Stallion; and in 2011 as Australian National Champion Working Stock Horse. This unprecedented trio of back-to-back wins at the Australian National Championships is the first in the breed for any horse, and a fitting achievement for the horse envisioned by the Farrells when selecting KARMAA, as well as TS AL MALIK, in decades prior at the Scottsdale Show.

Despite his illustrious and record-setting show career, KLASS was always the reluctant show horse. Intelligently contemplative and assuredly confident, it was always as if KLASS never quite understood what the fuss was all about, much like the noblest desert-bred Arabian stallions of the past and present day. It was his superlative phenotype and natural athletic ability that pulled him through on every occasion, his undeniable aristocratic quality and classic Arabian type, his outstanding structure and perfectly balanced frame, his elegant upright carriage and that captivating look of eagles. What this classic Arabian ambassador was born to do was be a sire, to transmit his stellar attributes as well as the royal heritage of both his parents to the next generation. Given that chance in 2006, KLASS has since redefined the standard of excellence at Mulawa and is well on his way to ensuring the legacy of KARMAA becomes one of profound global significance.

Having covered only a select cross-section of the Mulawa broodmares, KLASS has proven an incredibly prepotent sire of world-class quality foals, stamping each and every one with his distinctive look. Every single one of his foals shown to date has earned championship honours, most at Australia’s premier competitions and, more recently, on three continents overseas. His daughters are especially exotically beautiful, with a captivating charm and alluring grace, undeniably feminine and harmoniously designed, all very much in the image of their cherished granddam KARMAA. No surprisingly, KLASS is homozygous grey, blessing many of his get with his alabaster white coat colour. KLASS has proven to cross incredibly well with the blood of MAGNUM PSYCHE and PADRON (Patron x Odessa by Bright Wings), especially the daughters of MAGNUM FORTY FOUR. 

The collection of KLASS daughters bred at Mulawa must rightly be considered one of the best by any Arabian sire anywhere in the world. This bold statement was substantiated in March of 2014 when three of his most esteemed daughters captured all three of the Australian National Championships in the female division. This unprecedented clean sweep of the most important breeding division at the National Show elevated the status of KLASS to legendary proportions, now not only as a show horse, but as a sire of extraordinary merit. Confirming the wisdom of mating KLASS with the blood of MAGNUM PSYCHE, these celebrated champions were: KLASSICAL DEVOTION MI (x Mulawa Kiara by Magnum Psyche) – National Champion Yearling Filly; KLASSICAL PRESENCE MI (x Parada by Magnum Forty Four) – National Champion Junior Filly; and KLASSICAL DREAM MI (x Mustang’s Magnum by Magnum Forty Four) – National Champion Senior Mare.

Each of these beloved beauties has achieved significant victories in addition to their Australian National Championships. The double-KARMAA bred KLASSICAL DEVOTION MI was National Stud Show Champion Yearling Filly, while KLASSICAL PRESENCE has claimed a clean sweep of all the major Junior Champion Filly titles in New South Wales with wins at the National Stud Show and the East Coast Championships. The Senior Champion win for KLASSICAL DREAM MI was her second Australian National Championship title, as she was named Junior Champion Filly as a two year old. Also a National Stud Show Senior Champion Mare, KLASSICAL DREAM MI became the first mare to claim all four titles at the East Coast Championships as Champion Yearling Filly, Champion Two Year Old Filly, Champion Junior Mare and Champion Senior Mare. Now both sire and daughter can claim to have dominated one of the most prestigious Arabian events in the world. KLASSICAL DREAM MI competed for her final Australian National Championship under the ownership of HRH Prince Khaled bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Al Khalediah Stables, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. DREAM has since competed under the royal Saudi banner on three continents, earning successive Gold Championships in the Belgium, the United Kingdom and Morocco, as well as a Reserve Championship at the Arabian Breeders World Cup in Las Vegas, and World Champion Top Ten at the Salon du Cheval.

KLASSICAL DREAM MI was not the first KLASS daughter to find a new home overseas. That trailblazer was KLASSIC HARMONY MI (x Fames Harmony by Fame Maker R), a Queensland Challenge Junior Champion, as well as National Stud Show & Australian National Reserve Champion Filly. KLASSIC HARMONY is now proudly owned by Al Shaqab Stud, Qatar, where she is an esteemed member of one of the most elite broodmare bands in the world. Exceptional full sisters to both KLASSICAL DREAM and KLASSIC HARMONY have been retained by Mulawa. The yearling KLASSICAL SYMPHONY MI (x Fames Harmony) is maturing into a young mare of irresistible beauty, while former East Coast Champion & Australian National Reserve Champion MI KLASSIC FANTASY (x Mustang’s Magnum) is the first of the KLASS daughters to join the Mulawa broodmare band. Her double-KARMAA filly by KAVALLE MI born in November 2014 is one of the most exotic and promising foals of the current crop.

Within the current foal crop, the KLASS foals stand out amongst the very best. The promising colts include full brothers to KLASSICAL DREAM MI & KLASSICAL PRESENCE MI, whereas the literal dark horse, MULAWA DARK ANGEL (Magnum Psyche x Mulawa Angelica by Wanted KE), has delivered what may be the best colt born at Mulawa since KLASS. The best of the KLASS daughters include gorgeous fillies out of CHANCE TO DANCE (Magnum Forty Four x Mulawa Chance by Ambition), ALEXI MI (Magnum Forty Four x Mulawa Alexa by Parkview Audacious), MULAWA ASPIRING (Magnum Forty Four x Jiah Apsire by GLF Apollo), and MI ASPIRING VALENTINO (DA Valentino x Mulawa Aspiring). With each successive foal crop, KLASS continues to raise the bar of excellence, elevating the aspirations of the breeding program to spectacular new heights. Time has proven that Greg’s confidence in KARMAA’s final colt was well founded. KLASS remains the most beloved horse of Greg currently in residence, as well as a universal farm favorite.                 

While KLASS enjoys premier status as KARMAA’s most accomplished and universally acclaimed son, it was her next daughter that would convincingly establish KARMAA’s reputation as a producer of world-class quality show horses. This was the never more aptly named MULAWA KARISMAA, the result of utilizing the international legend MAGNUM PSYCHE directly in the program. KARISMAA was the first to prove the wisdom of mating KARMAA with MAGNUM PSYCHE, a cross that has since been repeated with phenomenal success between KLASS and the daughters of MAGNUM FORTY FOUR. A striking liver chestnut, KARISMAA exemplifies the best qualities of her dam, with a naturally dynamic show attitude, lofty upright carriage, captivating femininity, aristocratic quality and a powerfully animated trot. Her enormous eyes are legendary – black liquid pools of perfect proportion ideally placed on her beautiful head – a gift of her Spanish heritage and the blood of SKOWRONEK. From MAGNUM PSYCHE, KARISMAA inherited an iridescent coat colour, smooth harmonious design and extreme length, shape and elasticity of neck. As a yearling filly, MULAWA KARISMAA was named Australian National Champion, increasing the record of her beloved dam to four National Champions. KARISMAA returned to the show ring as a six year old, dominating the competition with an undefeated record as Queensland Gala Event, National Stud Show, East Coast & finally Australian National Champion Senior Mare. MULAWA KARISMAA has since joined the broodmare band, and has thus far produced East Coast & National Stud Show Champion KONQUEST MI (Guiliano), the valuable broodmare KOUTURE’ MI (GLF Apollo) and a stunning young filly at side by TS AL MALIK. Uncompromisingly sweet and devotedly friendly, MULAWA KARISMAA is the most like her dam in personality and remains adored by all who know her.

The most look-alike daughter of KARMAA at birth was KARISANDRAA, a full sister to MULAWA KARISMAA born the year after. A gorgeous grey of tremendous potential, KARISANDRAA was sadly lost before her first birthday, unable to recover from a badly broken leg. 

Two final gifts from KARMAA were obtained via embryo transfer in 2009. The first was born in September, the grey KASHMERE MI, KARMAA’s first and only foal by MAGNUM FORTY FOUR. Just before the end of the year in December, KARMAA’s final foal was born: KARMELIA MI (GLF Apollo), a full sister to aristocrat dam and meritorious matron MULAWA KARA MIA MI. Both of these young mares are on breeding reserve at Mulawa, amongst the twenty-eight direct tail-female descendants of KARMAA currently in residence. This remarkable total of direct tail-female KARMAA descendants does not including the daughters of KLASS, ALLEGIANCE MI or KAVALLE ME, nor any of the foals from the current crop at the sides of their dams. The sheer scope and magnitude of influence from this single mare was accomplished all in less than 25 years, a remarkable achievement that can be claimed by only an elite handful of distinguished individuals throughout the long and storied history of this noble breed.    

To know KARMAA was to stand in the presence of royalty. Always vibrant and full of life, KARMAA was exuberant enough to drag any handler to and from her paddock with tail flagged and nostrils sorting until her final days, including a rather unsuspecting Greg Farrell around the presentation ring at her final Open Day appearance in 2011 at the age of 25. She was improbably noble, exquisitely feminine and unmistakably refined. It is through these essential qualities that KARMAA is most apparent in the enduring legacy of her offspring.

KARMAA was unquestionably the most favorite horse of Julie Farrell, as both shared a deep and special bond that can only be achieved through a lifetime of collective experiences. It was always Julie who intuitively recognized that “something special” in KARMAA, from the first moment in the sale barn to those magical moments in the foaling barn, from those intimate summer “girls-only” getaways of breedings and collections back and forth between Mulawa & Alabama, to the quiet moments alone with a handful of carrots and well deserved pat. While all of Mulawa mourns the passing of this irreplaceable mare, it is Julie who most keenly feels the loss of her beloved KARMAA.  

From that fateful day of discovery by Greg & Julie in Scottsdale 1989, to her final breath in Berrilee the morning of 05 January 2015, KARMAA was the Queen of her domain, commanding reverence and respect, while quietly and unassumingly, yet with deliberate determination, exceeding expectations on every level. She will forever live on in our hearts, in our memories, in the scores of her remarkable descendants making a difference and raising the standard for the Arabian breed around the world.

Our lives are infinitely richer to have shared 25 wonderful and unforgettable years with you, KARMAA. The celebration of your life is the legacy of the generations yet to come. We thank you for all that you were, all that you are, and all that you continue to be. Thank you most of all, our beloved friend and companion, for being our Good Karmaa…

The KARMAA Tribute was featured in The Arabian Magazine in 2015
To download a PDF the printed article, please click on the link below 

KARMAA | A Tribute to the "Queen of Mulawa"