MUSTANG'S MAGNUM | Aristocrat Dam of Distinction
Only rarely in the best breeding programs do the two coincide: accomplished show mare and meritorious matron. While ever the aim of the most experienced and dedicated breeders, creating and discovering those mares which can both achieve at the highest level of competition as well as contribute her best qualities with remarkable consistency to the next generation as a broodmare is a cause of great celebration. For Mulawa Arabian Stud, that convergence of greatness in both phenotype and genotype is the defining legacy of the remarkable Mustang’s Magnum. Incredibly, at just nine years of age, Mustang’s Magnum has rewritten the record books for the Arabian breed in Australia as both show horse and broodmatron, with seven foals of world-class quality and counting.
Born in November 2005, Mustang’s Magnum was bred in Victoria by Kay & Phil Edward of Shane Edward Arabians, respected small breeders with more than a three-decade record of success with both purebreds and Arabian derivatives. She was the first purebred foal bred by the Edwards, using the Mustang stud prefix, out of South Australian Champion Mare Sahtarah, a recent acquisition that possessed a classic Australian-blend pedigree of the best genetics available from around the world. Sahtarah’s sire, the US-bred import Sahjat, was a son of the Straight Egyptian Ruminaja Bahjat, a full brother to legendary supersire Ruminaja Ali, and out of a well-bred, heavily Crabbet-influenced granddaughter of breed pillars Fadjur and Saki. Sahtarah’s dam, the Forest Hill-bred Dantarah, represented strength of Polish bloodlines through Bask & Comet, Egyptian beauty through El Hilal, and substance and athleticism through the best Crabbet bloodlines available Down Under. Sahtarah’s ideal combination of beauty, balance, structure and performance proved the perfect cross with Mulawa’s newly imported Magnum Forty Four, a son of the immortal Magnum Psyche, grandson of the equally influential Bey Shah, and a great-grandson of important Polish sire Fortel.
Kay was unequivocally certain the moment “Maggie” hit the ground that a superstar had been born. Miraculously surviving a dramatic birth during which both mare and foal were nearly lost, the filly possessed an undeniable presence of aristocratic quality from her very first steps. Phil made an enthusiastic phone call to long-time friend and supporter Greg Farrell, asking him to come for a visit to assess the quality of the new Magnum Forty Four-Sahtarah filly. Greg promised he would as soon as time allowed, and shortly after weaning, Greg arrived in Victoria to positively confirm Kay’s assessment. A partnership was formed between the Edwards and Mulawa within two days, with the purpose of promoting Mustang’s Magnum in the show ring.
As a yearling, Mustang’s Magnum proved indomitable, winning Champion Yearling Filly honours on her first three outings. These show ring appearances just happened to be at the National Stud Show in November, the East Coast Championships in February and the Australian National Championships in March, an achievement which made Mustang’s Magnum the first yearling filly in the history of the breed to win all three of the most important shows in Australia with an undefeated record. Universally admired by a continent of adoring fans and supporters, Maggie proved to be the iconic standard of the Magnum Forty Four elite, and a sterling example of the near-ideal Arabian filly.
Phenotypically, Mustang’s Magnum is impressively complete. Beautifully balanced and harmoniously proportioned, Maggie possesses a pleasing three-dimensional substance, broody capaciousness, strong smooth coupling and solid confirmation with admirable length of leg. Her strength, width and levelness of topline as well as her depth of girth, spring and arch of rib and fullness through the quarter are especially inspiring, traits reinforced from both sides of her pedigree. Her cleanliness, elegance and length of neck are distinctly Magnum Forty Four, as are those trademark eyes: luminously large, dark, round and impossibly enchanting. Her head is classically feminine with great width between the eyes, a prominent jibbah, a deep defined jowl, a tapering muzzle with large voluminous nostrils and distinctively dry refinement. That regal air of charismatic confidence that defined her as a foal is still unequivocally evident as a mature broodmatron, making Maggie a stand-out in a paddock of exceptional mares with her extraordinary type, quality and presence.
After rewriting the record books as a yearling, Mustang’s Magnum returned to the show ring as a three-year old mare. Underwhelmed with the idea of being back in the spotlight, Maggie still proved to be a formidable, albeit unenthusiastic, show horse. Having to contend with sensational paternal sister Parada in the junior mare division, Maggie earned the titles of National Stud Show & Australian Reserve Champion Junior Mare before retiring from the show ring for good in 2009. That same season, Mustang’s Magnum entered the rapidly expanding embryo transfer program at Alabama, Mulawa’s impressive 1500-acre breeding facility in the Upper Hunter Valley, blessing the forthcoming foal crop with two recipient-accepted embryos.
Her first foal to be born in October of 2008 was a bay colt by Australian, United States & Canadian National Champion Fame Maker R. Handsome, upright, charismatic, extremely correct and athletically gifted, the promising colt suffered a disfiguring accident during a particularly fierce thunderstorm, resulting in dozens of stitches across his forehead and face from severe lacerations. As a result, the tenaciously lucky colt earned the name of Fames Phantom MI. Gelded at three years of age to pursue a career under saddle, Fames Phantom has since gone on to become one of the most highly decorated Arabian saddle horses in Australia. Like his dam, Phantom is a National Stud Show, East Coast & Australian Champion, having earned important titles at each show in the last two seasons under saddle. At just four years of age, Fames Phantom won the coveted East Coast Cup for purebreds, making him one of the youngest horses ever to win this prestigious honour. Just a month ago at the Australian Championships, Phantom won the largest purebred performance division at the National Show while earning the title of Champion Arabian Gelding Under Saddle.
Mustang’s Magnum first filly was born later in 2008, just ten days before Christmas on the 15th of December. This stunning filly was one of the very first foals sired by four-time East Coast Champion and soon to be three-time successive Australian Champion Klass. Exactly like her dam, this filly was special from moment she hit the ground, aptly earning the imposing name Klassical Dream MI. Very much the image of her dam with the added refinement, extreme beauty, scope and style of the daughters of Klass, Dream entered the Mulawa show team in her yearling year. Finishing with a record of East Coast Champion, National Stud Show Reserve Champion & Australian National Top Ten Yearling Filly, Klassical Dream showed great promise to mature into even a better show mare than her dam, as is typical with the family of Karmaa, from which her sire Klass descends. Dream returned to claim both the East Coast Champion Two Year Old Filly and Australian Champion Junior Mare titles the following year, before earning a well deserved break from the show ring to relax and mature in the spacious fields of Alabama. Returning to work as a four year old with an enthusiastic zest for life, DREAM swept the competition at the National Stud Show as Champion Senior Mare and at the East Coast Championships as Champion Junior Mare, while finishing just behind stablemate Mulawa Aspiring as Australian Reserve Champion Senior Mare. Highly pursued by several of the leading international breeding programs, Klassical Dream was purchased in January 2014 by HRH Prince Khaled bin Sultan bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud of Al Khalediah Stables, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Under new ownership, DREAM returned to Australian show ring to win the most important titles of her career to date: East Coast Champion Senior Mare, an unprecedented fourth consecutive title, and unanimous Australian National Champion Senior Mare.
An equally stunning full sister to Klassical Dream was born two years later in November of 2010: MI Klassic Fantasy. More compact and upright then Dream, with a finer, longer and higher set neck as well as a shorter head with a more extreme dish, Fantasy followed her sister’s triumph at the East Coast Championships as Champion Yearling Filly. Like Dream, Fantasy also finished a strong second behind another Mulawa female, in this case MI Harmony, as Australian National Reserve Champion Yearling Filly. Given time to mature to blossom into the magnificent mare she will become, Klassic Fantasy has entered the Mulawa breeding program as a three year old, settling in foal to unanimous Australian Champion & Scottsdale winner Kavalle MI for a late 2014 foal.
An especially fertile mare to flush, Mustang’s Magnum gave two more embryos in 2009 in addition to MI Klassic Fantasy. These were the first of three successive foals by Australian Champion Guiliano, a successful sire of numerous Australian champions. Born just two weeks apart, the bay brother and sister pair of Maximilliano and Majesta MI, respectively, were raised together with MI Klassic Fantasy at Alabama until weaned. Beautifully conformed and smartly marked with an especially elegant head and a fantastic show attitude, Majesta seemed a promising successor to her dam in the show ring. As the nominated foal for the New South Wales Arabian Futurity Sweepstakes, Majesta was shown to champion honours amongst all purebred yearlings at the National Stud Show. Having to compete against the best of her peers from the Mulawa breeding program over the next two years including her sister MI Klassic Fantasy and Australian Champion MI Harmony, Majesta finished her junior show career as Top Five Junior Mare at the East Coast Championships and National Top Ten Yearling Filly at the Australian Championships.
Full brother Maximilliano was the first of Mustang’s Magnum’s sons to be shown at halter. Big, strong and extremely flamboyant in the show ring, Max dazzled the crowds at both the East Coast Championships and the Australian Championships to earn the titles of Champion Yearling Colt on both occasions. A powerful mover with commanding presence, Maximilliano has since earned the titles of Victorian Classic Junior Champion Stallion as well as unanimous Australian National Champion Junior Stallion. Most poignantly, Maximilliano now competes for Kay & Phil Edward under the banner of Shane Edward Arabians, having been recently purchased from a Queensland breeder who bought Maximilliano as a yearling after his Australian National Championship win.
Maxilliano’s look-alike full brother, Maximise MI, affectionately known as “Little Max”, was born in 2011, the single Mustang’s Magnum foal to be born that season. More elegant and refined than his brother at the same age, Maximise proved himself a champion on his very first outing as National Stud Show Champion Yearling Colt. He finished that season just behind another Mulawa superstar, Kavalle MI, as Australian National Reserve Champion Yearling Colt. This past season as an improved and imposing two year-old, Maximise earned the titles of National Stud Show Reserve Junior Champion Stallion behind stablemate Konquest MI, East Coast Champion Two Year Old Colt, and Australian Reserve Champion Junior Stallion behind full brother Maximilliano. This accomplishment of full brothers winning Australian National Champion & Reserve National Champion honours in the same division together in the same year is an industry first, yet another show ring record for Mustang’s Magnum, albeit one earned more importantly as a broodmare.
As for production records, the long list of unprecedented accomplishments for Mustang’s Magnum just begins with the double Australian National Championship wins for Maximilliano and Maximise MI. At the same Australian Championships this past March, Mustang’s Magnum was represented by four progeny. Most impressively, all four earned a major Australian National Championship title: Klassical Dream MI as unanimous Champion Senior Mare, Fames Phantom MI as Champion Arabian Gelding Under Saddle, Maximilliano as unanimous Champion Junior Stallion and Maximise MI just behind as Reserve Champion Junior Stallion. Given that both Max brothers were competing in the same division, no better result than that achieved by the four Mustang’s Magnum progeny at the show could be realized: three Australian Championships and one Reserve, a show and industry first for Australia. Her record as a dam of champions at the East Coast Championships is especially profound. Her eldest daughter Klassical Dream Mi holds the distinction of being the only mare in the history of the show to have won all four halter divisions with an undefeated record. In 2014, Klassical Dream MI, Maximilliano & Maximise MI all earned East Coast Champion honours, marking the first time ever for a mare to have produced three purebred halter champions in the same year. In 2012, Mustang’s Magnum achieved another East Coast first as the dam of both the champion yearling filly and yearling colt, MI Klassic Fantasy and Maximilliano, respectively. At just nine years of age with her eldest foals just five years old, Mustang’s Magnum has produced champions in every Australian – yearling, junior & senior – and East Coast – yearling, two-year old, junior & senior – halter division as well as major performance champions at both shows. Most astonishingly, the first six Mustang’s Magnum produce were all shown at the highest level of competition and ALL achieved championship honours in Australia: a perfect production record for a mare not yet in the second decade of life. In total, the six produce of Mustang’s Magnum have earned 37 titles at the three major shows in Australia, including five Australian Championships, five Australian Reserve Championships, four National Stud Show Championships, three National Stud Show Reserve Championships and an amazing nine East Coast Championships.
The latest addition to Mustang’s Magnum constellation of stars is MONARQUE MI, a September 2013 bay colt by Marwan Al Shaqab. Just weaned and showing astonishing promise as young stallion of extraordinary merit, this spectacular colt promises to contribute further glory to the unrivaled record of his incomparable dam. Safely in foal to Klass for a late 2014 for a full sibling to superstars Klassical Dream MI & MI Klassic Fantasy, Mustang’s Magnum is in line to produce her eighth foal of merit at just ten years of age.
In the arduous pursuit of Arabian horse breeding, the seasoned breeder knows that greatness can only originate from quality that can be both assessed phenotypically and inherited genotypically. In the case of Mustang’s Magnum, the greatness she is just beginning to create, most astoundingly over the course of the past decade, stands to globally impact the breed positively and profoundly for decades yet to come…