Abu Dhabi: Late President Shaikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan owned two of the greatest Purebred Arabian race horses — Alanudd (Unchained Melody) and Maha (Joyzell).
Alanudd, bred in the US, captured all the top Arabian races in the UAE during a phenomenal career that lasted seven years.
He is the only horse to win the Dubai Kahayla Classic on three occasions, a record that’s likely to remain for a long time to come.
While winning 36 races out of the 37 she started, Alanudd was one of the most dominant winners, with most of the wins being pillar-to-post affairs.
Incredible record
In 31 starts in the UAE, she demolished her rivals 30 times. Only twice in her career did Alanudd falter, once when she lost in 1995 to Vanissa Du Loup, and the next year, when she ran an uncharacteristic race but still won the National Day Cup in Abu Dhabi.
Maha (Joyzell) was perhaps unlucky to have raced in the shadow of such a great horse as Alanudd. But like Alanudd, Maha was a breed apart, sensationally winning 25 career starts.
Shaikh Zayed also owned some other great Purebred Arabian horses like Ezil, Dent De Loup, Nez D’or and Tahar De Candelon.
