AHR #790
Foaled 1916 or 1919

From The Raswan Index, entry #6407:
"MIRAGE" (#790, AHC. of A.), a white SAQLAWI-DAL'AN stallion. Bred by the SABA' tribe and sold by them to the DANADUSAH (DHANADUSHAN tribe of the 'AMARAT), who gave "MIRAGE" (as a young colt) to General HADAD PASHA for H. M. KING FEISAL's (FAYSAL) private stud farm in IRAQ. Foaled 1918; imported to CRABBET PARK, England, and imported to the U.S.A. (1930) by ROGER A. SELBY. Sire: a Desert-bred KUHAYLAN-'AJUZ. Dam: a Desert-bred SAQLAWIYAH-DAL'AH (originally of the 'AMARAT tribe in IRAQ). CRABBET PARK Stud catalogue 1928 states: "MIRAGE, an imported horse bred by the ANAZEH tribe from NEJJD stock and sold by them to the DENEDNASHA tribe, from whom he was purchased"

From the brochure of Arabian Horses at the Selby Stud:
CHAMPION MIRAGE Arab Stallion. Pure White. 14.2 hands. Foaled 1909. 1000 lb. Three gaited. Sound. Most gentle and lovable. A Seglawi Jedran of Dalia, the most prized of the Seglawi strains. Desert Bred. Sire: A Kehilan Ajuz of the Anazeh. Dam: A Seglawieh Jedran of Dalia. Register no. 790 Arabian Horse Club.English Champion, Richmond Royal Show, 1926. American Champion, National Arabian Show, Nashville, 1934, at the age of 25, a most unique honor for a horse of such remarkable age. Only one other horse, Mr. Selby's mare, Champion Rifala, holds the same record of being both a British and American Champion.Mirage first saw the light of day among the Sebaa Arabs of the Anazeh tribe, noted for their fine horses of the Seglawi Jedran strain. He was such a remarkable specimen that he quickly became celebrated among the desert tribes. It was thus that he came to be the ultimate selection of General Haddad, who had been sent out to scour the desert far and wide to locate an outstanding Arab stallion to head the Stud of His Royal Highness, King Faisal of Iraq. Until his death recently the King occupied a frequent place in world news. King Faisal was delighted with the perfect conformation of Mirage, together with his wonderful temperament, and considered him well worth the sum of $2,500 which had been exacted for him, an exceedingly high price in the desert for a young colt at that time. King Faisal, as time wore on, became greatly attached to Mirage.Lady Wentworth, owner of the large and famous Arabian Stud at Crabbet Park, England, finally induced the King to part with Mirage, and it was while under her ownership that Mirage won the Championship at the Richmond Show, England, in 1926. Lady Wentworth writes that she considered Mirage an ideal ride and mentions in particular one spectacular Bedouin trick which he had been taught wherein he could turn at the gallop by leaping into the air - a performance which did not appeal to townsmen. Mirage's disposition is gentleness itself in all respects. Some years after he went to Crabbet, circumstances developed which made it possible for Selby Stud to acquire Mirage. It is of interest here to relate that Chefik Bey Haddad, a son of the General Haddad who selected Mirage for King Faisal, retained so great an affection for Mirage that when in Cleveland several years ago on affairs of state for his country, he journeyed down to Selby Stud especially to visit the horse. He spent many hours in the corral with the stallion, and Mirage seemed to recognize him, even though some time had elapsed since he had last seen him. The Bey stated that he had frequently visited the horse while in England, after he passed out of King Faisal's possession. This remarkable stallion is pure white, a rare and much sought after characteristic. At twenty-seven years of age - equivalent to more than a hundred years in the human span - he is entirely sound, without blemish, and shows none of the characteristics of advanced age. He is an almost perfect example of the classic type of Arabian, and in addition he has a truly regal bearing and a wonderful expressive countenance which greatly endears him to all. His fine conformation and splendid traits are transmitted in marked degree to his offspring. An outstanding demonstration of the exceptional virility and prepotency of the pure Arab is the fact that in spite of his unusual age, each year Mirage sires many fine foals, which are so sought after that they are purchased before they can reach maturity.

The following excerpt is taken from the Journal of the Arab Horse Society of England, March 1935:
"Mirage, Mr. Selby's wonderful twenty-five-year-old white stallion, famous in his native Arabia, Champion at the Richmond Royal Show, England, 1926, and now rated by many experts as the most perfect specimen of the ancient elite or classic type in America, added to himself the title of champion Arabian stallion of the United States for 1934. He stands a scant 14.2, a sturdy model with the characteristic refinements of the best of his breed. His head is a glory and his great eyes express high but gentle spirits and gracious personality."

Some excerpts from an article in the March 1998 Arabian Horse World, Studbook Research, volume 71, by Mary Jane Parkinson:
"For the fourth consecutive stud book, Desperado V heads up the Leading Sires List (tied for first place in Volume 70)." Here are the leading sires from the article that pertain to *Mirage:
#1, Desperado V (Huckleberry Bey x Daraska by *Dar) with 67 foals
#5, Afire Bey V (Huckleberry Bey x Autumn Fire by *Bask) with 53 foals
#6, Bey Shah (Bay El Bey x Star Of Ofir by *Bask), 47 foals
#9 & 10, Hucklebey Berry (Huckleberry Bey x Miz Bask by *Bask), and JK
Amadeus (Bey Shah x Katahza by Aza Destiny) tied with 33 foals.

"A sire line study of the 34 horses in the top 20 places on the chart produces these figures:
*MIRAGE ­ 11 sires
OFIR ­ 11 sires
NAZEER ­ 7 sires
SKOWRONEK ­ 2 sires
AMURATH ­ 1 sire
MLECH I ­ 1 sire
TELMESE ­ 1 sire

The sires in the *Mirage sire line come through Bay-Abi (Errabi x Angyl by *Raseyn, a great-great-great-grandson of *Mirage, all through Bay El Bey; all the sires in the Ofir sire line through the Ofir sons Witraz (x Makata by Fetysz) and Wielki Szlem (x Elegantka by Bakszysz); the sires of the Nazeer sire line through the Nazeer sons Aswan (x Yosreia by Sheikh El Arab) and *Morafic (x Mabrouka by Sid Abouhom); and the sires of the Skowronek line through his son Naseem (x Nasra by Daoud). Of the sires of the Leading Sires, 14 have more than one son on the list. Bey Shah heads this list with 14 sons, followed by Huckleberry Bey with seven. *Bask, Bay El Bey, and Ruminaja Ali each have three sons on the list; and *Adhem, *Aladdinn, Ali Jamaal, *Ansata Ibn Halima, Moniet El Nafis, *Padron, *Salon, *Sambor, and The Minstril each have two sons on the list. Sires on the Leading Sires list who also have sons on the list are a class unto themselves as well. Eight Leading Sires are so distinguished. Bey Shah also heads up this list with his 14 sons, and *Padron and The Minstril each have two."

Below is an excerpt from the Arabian Visions Archives From the article Jimmy Dean Remembers:
"*Mirage:... *Mirage had a body that would be hard to fault and his head was not out of line in those days, but in the present day context, his head would not have been acceptable. It was the kind of a head like that of all the Arabian horses coming out of the desert. He had a little more refinement because of his large eye, more actually from his expression than from the measurements. In hindsight, we would have been better off to breed *Mirage more and got his daughters and crossed them to *Raffles. His disposition was the best I ever saw other than my horse, Azy. My son and Mr. Selby's daughter were born within weeks of each other. When growing up, they had a playhouse in *Mirage's stall. They had their toys there. They would make mud pies, and he was always standing over the top of them. They would feed him cookies and apples and candy and would try to make him eat these mud pies. You should have seen him, he had mud all over his face. He'd put up with it. When people were coming to see the horses, especially if it was a group of people of some prominence, we'd get the horses all ready to show. We had eight or nine stallions, and they were all in the stallion barn. As soon as word got out that people were coming and to get the horses ready, the kids would go to *Mirage's stall with their brushes and rags and brush his legs. It was not unusual to see them sitting down on the ground, one of them straddling a front leg, and the other straddling the other leg. They'd be brushing and when they'd get through with the front, they'd go back to the back and sit down flat on the ground and brush as high up as they could. Nobody else bothered him. He might only be clean up to here (his belly).When I was looking at some of the Selby films, I noticed that *Mirage had been stuffed and preserved. Why? I don't know why. Just an idea Mr. Selby got. I don't know whether you know how his end came, but he must have fallen in the stall and broken a hip. It was broken in such a way that there was no possibility of repairing it and he was a very old horse, too. A doctor at the Cleveland Clinic at that time was doing research on the endocrine system of all the warm-blooded animals found in the United States. He wanted some of the endocrine systems from horses. He had gotten some from Thoroughbred horses and wanted some Arabian. We had given him the endocrine system for *Nureddin II. When we called him about *Mirage, he said he would bring his team down and would like to have the glands from *Mirage. We kept him under sedation until the crew got down there. They took all of the glands that they wanted to preserve....Then Mr. Selby wanted him preserved. He made arrangements with a man who had done work for the Museum of Natural History in New York who recommended a taxidermist. They came down and got the skin and took it up there and mounted him. The mounting was not very realistic to the horse."

Mirage began life with the Saba tribe of the Anazah confederation....was sold by intermediary for King Feisal of Iraq... taken to France by King Feisal where he was given to the Italian ambassador, who then took him to England and sold him at Tattersall's. Lady Wentworth bought him for Crabbet Stud, and later sold him to Roger Selby in 1930. Selby then imported *Mirage to the United States.

There is no doubt whatsoever that he was a purebred; he is accepted by Al Khamsa and is listed in the Blue Arabian Horse Catalog.

Thanks to Eva Dano for collating the above information for us!

From another source:
Mirage was a white Seglaw-Jedran bred by the Sebaa tribe of the Anazeh, sired by a desertbred Kehilan-Ajuz out of a desertbred Seglawi-Jedran mare. Several foaling dates are listed for Mirage, but the most accurate is probably 1916, the date in the Crabbet records, although the studbook of the Arabian Horse Registry lists it as 1919. Mirage was purchased from the Sebaa tribe for HRH King Faisal of Iraq by his agent General Haddud Pasha for the equivalent of $2500, and was eventually bought by Lady Wentworth for her Crabbet Park Stud. Unfortunately, the General Stud Book had been closed and despite all her efforts, Lady Wentworth could not register Mirage, so she sold him to Roger Selby, who imported him to the United States in 1930 to his stud in Portsmouth, Ohio. Mirage sired no purebred foals in England but was used on some of America's top mares at Selby's, one of the most important studs of the time. The amount of Mirage blood in today's horses is remarkable since he sired just 26 foals, 13 colts and 13 fillies. Two sons sired no purebred foals, one gelded and the other dying far too young at age five. Two full sisters out of Kareyma were struck by lightning and killed as youngsters, and another daughter produced only one foal. The date of death for Mirage is as ambiguous as his birthdate, with more than one being recorded. He probably died in 1939 from a broken hip.