Kahal (GB)

KAHAL (GB)

Sunday 30 October saw the BloodStock South Africa 2005 Ready-to-Run Sale take place at the Thoroughbred Breeders’ Sales Complex at Gosforth Park, Germiston and it was Rose Window, a bay son of Kahal, that stole the show at R280 000.

Kahal, a bay son of Machiavellian, was born in 1994 and stands 16.1 hands high. He won 8 races from the ages of 2 to 6 years over 1200 to 1600 metres in the UK, France, UAE, USA and Canada including a GR2 (1400m) as a 3 year old, a GR3 (1300m) as a 5 year old, and a GR2 (1200m) as a 6 year old. He contested 18 graded races in 24 career starts. Kahal took up stud duties in South Africa in 2001 and stands at Summerhill Stud for R15 000.

Kahal’s pedigree contains the Mr Prospector x Northern Dancer cross, being by Machiavellian (a son of Mr Prospector) out of a Green Desert (grandson of Northern Dancer) mare. He has quite a lot of duplicated ancestors in the first six generations of his pedigree, though none up close:

Native Dancer 4m, 5f x 6f

Nasrullah 5m x 6m

Nearco 6m x 6m, 5m

Turn-To 5m x 6m

Almahmoud 5f, 5f x 6f

War Admiral 6f x 6f

Natalma 4f x 5m

His first crop of foals took to the tracks for the South African 2004/05 season and he produced seven winners including four that won their debuts and three stakes performers. As a sprinter himself, it seems that Kahal is producing speedy sorts that come to hand early.

The inbreeding of his four best foals to date is:

–         Raise A Native 4 x 4, Northern Dancer 5 x 4

–         Northern Dancer 5 x 3

–         Northern Dancer 5 x 5 x 5

–         Mr Prospector 3 x 3, Northern Dancer 5 x 3 x 4

The affinity for Northern Dancer blood is clear, while duplicating Raise A Native or Mr Prospector up close doesn’t hurt. The two Kahal foals (a colt and a filly) to fetch R150 000 or more at the sale are both out of Northern Guest mares. Northern Guest is a son of Northern Dancer and has been multiple champion damsire in South Africa, though his full brother, El Gran Senor, will no doubt be better known to the sim community. The two year old with the Mr Prospector and Northern Dancer duplications above is a full sister to the sale topper, therefore also by Northern Guest.

Breeding Suggestions:

At 11 am game time on Thursday morning, Kahal is available for a mere 11 points with all three breedings open. At such a low price, this provides plenty of opportunities to cross with established, successful, and more expensive damsires. To date, Kahal has only four sim runners, one each season from 2002 to 2005. All four crosses have been with very cheap damsires, and only one with a DDS of any note. Only one, Al Kahal, has been a winner. He has Al Mufti (Roberto x Buckpasser) and Top Command (Bold Ruler x Prince Bio) as his DS and DDS. Interestingly, he looks he will be producing his best over long trips, having produced a career best 96 two runs back over 12 furlongs on the dirt.

With the success of crosses with Northern Guest (26 points), I’d suggest using El Gran Senor (204 points) as the DS. If you like the 5 x 3 x 4 Northern Dancer cross, consider Dixieland Band (287 points) as the DDS. This would effectively give you a half-sibling to the mighty Granhee who himself carries four strains of Northern Dancer.

Another successful cross with El Gran Senor was Private Account (247 points) to produce the Senorita Rapida. This choice would be for those that prefer to avoid further inbreeding to Northern Dancer and Mr Prospector, and would imply using a mare inbred 3 x 4 to Damascus.

The DDS spot is really open to many possibilities with affinities shown to Northern Dancer, Mr Prospector, and Raise A Native, as well as the possibility to outcross the mare. I would suggest avoiding the common practice of bargain breeding though, as the success rate is low. Use a good stallion in both the DS and DDS positions and you may be pleasantly surprised.