COVER STORY ~ Aria Rakeem ~ Summer 2021

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ARIA RAKEEM AND THE “IT” FACTOR

by Denise Hearst It’s rare that a three-year-old colt, without having been promoted or campaigned in the showring, inspires such a following: five partners in his ownership and 107 mares booked in his first season at stud. But Aria Rakeem has done just that through the force of his charisma and beauty and the strength of his pedigree.

“If that’s not an endorsement by the market, I don’t know what is,” says Jeff Sloan, co-manager of the colt along with Greg Knowles. “I am buoyed by the fact that breeders have stepped up to breed to this horse not because he was the champion of the moment, but because they recognize his quality and the value of his pedigree even without any show credentials. Who would guess that in today’s market? It just doesn’t happen. And yet it has.”

T H E PA R T N E R S

Joe and Kim Orr, Rose City Arabians, Ridgefield, Washington We rented Greg Knowles’s home during Scottsdale via Airbnb, and that’s how we first saw Aria Rakeem. We walked past his stall and immediately took notice. He had an unusual attraction – a very strong pull, and you simply had to stop. We then saw him in a presentation and that was the deciding factor for us to purchase breedings no matter who owned him.

His cadence and charisma made the crowd begin to clap – overtaken with emotion. He is a very, very rare stallion.

For Kim and me, Rakeem is like the painting we envision of the Arabian horse. We feel his “wow factor” is his face, but when you add the overall balance and conformation along with his incredible presence, it all becomes a “wow.”

He has lots of leg, great shape to his neck, a short back, a great shoulder, and his rear end is flawless. When you consider his phenotype, we feel he is as close to perfection as we have ever seen. When you consider genotype, there is not much more exciting than FA El Rasheem as a sire and the U.S. National Champion mare MD Hibat Allah as his dam – one of the greatest daughters of DA Valentino ever born. One of our mentors told us to always look at the mare and the sire before your final purchase if possible. We had seen Rasheem at a presentation in Italy in 2019, and later we flew to Om El Arab, where Janina was kind enough to show us Hibat Allah.

When we found out via Greg that he was considering a partnership, Kim and I said, “We are in if you will have us!” Aria Rakeem and Greg and John and Deb Mitchell have a plan surrounding fun, travel, and enjoying the worldwide community of the Arabian horse via Aria Rakeem. Kim and I want to go to all the big shows over the pond, and there is a plan in the near future to go to Dubai, Aachen, Menton, and Paris. What a blast that will be for all of us.

We bred two mares to Rakeem this year: Jasminia AS (Soul of Marwan AS x Jasmine Love NA), 2021 World Cup Gold Champion Senior Mare and Scottsdale International Gold Champion Junior Mare, and JFN Captive Love, a most beautiful daughter of Padrons Psyche out of JJ Pretty Moment.

Years from now, we hope Rasheem’s story is of one of the most accomplished and happy stallions in the history of the breed.

At the 2020 Marquise Auction in Scottsdale, John and Debra Mitchell of CME Arabian Equities of Mesa, Arizona, were the winning bidders on the two-year-old Rakeem. “Greg Knowles was certainly a big part of this transaction,” John says. “He saw Rakeem’s potential as breeding stallion. In that room, there were people who could have left us in the dust, but we were the winning bidders with no problem that night.”

A couple of months after the auction, local Scottsdale breeder Beni Hasheem stopped by Greg’s Arabian Expressions to see Rakeem. “The colt just lit the place up – just blows and snorts,” says Greg. “Beni bought 20 breedings for the Middle East. That’s when I decided to focus on private showings and let the colt bounce and play. All of a sudden, everybody who came by went crazy for the colt. His popularity caught on organically. The last night of the World Cup here in Scottsdale, I had a casual showing at my place; before I knew it, there were 30 to 40 people. I sold 30 breedings that night. Everybody says he gives them goosebumps.

“The showings got better – he got bigger and more fit and confident.

He’s about 15.1 now, and he’ll take your breath away, just gorgeous.

Many people have tried to buy him, and all the trainers have asked to show him.”

Jeff feels that the excitement swirling around Rakeem and the breeders’ acceptance of him has a lot to do with Rakeem’s own ARIA RAKEEM > 2 < WORLD

John and Debra Mitchell, CME Arabian Equities, Mesa, Arizona In the relatively short time that we’ve been breeding and showing Arabians, we’ve purchased a lot of horses, and every one of them has been a first or second-place winner.

We haven’t been doing it that long, so to have a colt that has been accepted by the community at such an early age is quite nice.

It is exciting to have a colt of this magnitude. We liked him largely because of his pedigree – by FA El Rasheem (who us unlikely to ever return to the U.S.) and out of the great producer Hibat Allah. We listened to Greg, who was of the opinion that there were a lot of similarities to Magic Dream, in that his sire is probably not coming back to the U.S. and the dam line is great.

We have a great group of partners, and we hope that everyone does well, as this young colt is going places fast. We should see some great babies a year from now, from our nice mares (including a full sister to Vitorio).

We’re out-of-our minds happy.

charisma at those private showings. “He’s got that ‘it’ factor,” he says.

Rakeem was bred by NJ Horse Ventures — Norm Pappas, Jamie Jacob, and Jeff Sloan, who also manages the group — a vibrant and smart partnership that has produced scores of phenomenal Arabian show and breeding horses. While Hibat Allah has produced foals by an array of the breed’s top sires, she has never been bred to FA El Rasheem (FA El Shawan x Virtuosa MLR), another stallion whose early career was managed by Jeff Sloan. Rasheem now resides in Dubai and is one of the world’s top sires of international champions.

“We are lucky to have unique access to Rasheem semen. He and Hibat Allah match up really well,” notes Jeff. “We hoped we’d get Rasheem’s quality and extreme type and Hibat Allah’s charisma, ARIA RAKEEM > 4 < WORLD

correctness, size, carriage, length of neck, and shoulder. Rakeem is one of those rare individuals that inherited the best of what the breeding had to offer. It came together for him. He has been beautiful from day one. He’s everything you hope for in an Arabian stallion, from his coloring to his charisma, type, carriage, correctness. He’s a dynamic horse who looks you in the eye. His

AriaR a k e e m Ruel and Virginia Gober, Dreamco Arabians, Folsom, Louisiana,

Managing partner of Aria Rakeem, Jeff Sloan, with a friend.

presence is commanding.”

It was with some reluctance that Jeff consigned Rakeem to the auction. “In order to make it go, we have to put our best horses into that auction,” says Jeff. “But I made sure that this horse didn’t get away from me. I was on him.” So when John Mitchell and Greg Knowles decided to put together a syndicate, Jeff was all in.

As Greg says, “Not only did we have no trouble assembling the partnership, but I sold 107 breedings to a colt that never sired a foal.

A lot of people believe the colt has credibility because throughout my career I’ve rarely promoted stallions. I always say that Arabian Expressions is the house that Magic Dream built. I yelled about Magic Dream years ago and I’m yelling about this colt now. People are thinking, ‘Must be something here.’”

“Everyone is so happy,” says Jeff. “To have John tell me, ‘This is the most fun I’ve ever had in the Arabian horse business’ – it doesn’t get any better than that. It’s a great ownership group. And hopefully next year we’ll see some really beautiful babies. It’s really been a beautiful trajectory. ‘Joy’ is a good word to describe what we are feeling. And confidence building – the confidence in knowing

We saw Aria Rakeem at Greg Knowles’s farm, Arabian Expressions. We thought that he was amazing and that he may be a fit for some of our straight Egyptian mares.

Aria Rakeem is a horse who is not only blessed with a great pedigree, but his phenotype reinforces what the pedigree says he is. From our experience, we have found that if he looks like his pedigree, he will sire the way he looks … and boy, we really like the way he looks.

We loved this colt from first sight, and we’re thrilled to be part of his future. We also have done business with Greg for a while, and when he called and invited us to participate and we heard how excited he was, we really thought this might be a very serious young stallion to be part of his future.

In 2022, we are planning to breed four of Dreamco Arabians foundation mares to Aria Rakeem. We have several world-class straight Egyptian mares so we thought we would step out the box a bit and breed our mares to this young superstar – Makeda DB (Mishaal HP x Jamiil Baarrah), Scottsdale, and Egyptian Event Champion Mare, Amirah Gemaal DB (Bellagio RCA x Silkh SWA), Miss Magidaa Mae DB (Bellagio RCA x Bint Maggie Mae), and Dixie Dreamer DB (Thee Infidel x Passion TF).

When Greg explained his plans for Aria Rakeem’s future, we realized our dreams are very similar – to be in Paris in the winner’s circle, drinking champagne with Aria Rakeem by our side.

AZUAR PHOTO

Rick Richetta, Oakland, California Initially, I bought an early breeding to Rakeem in the Silver Sire program. I had never seen the horse, and I did it to be supportive of John and Deb because they have exerted a very positive and fun influence with their Arabian horse involvement. I thought it would be a great way to get involved.

Based on his pedigree, which is filled with horses known for classic type and international winners, Rakeem is exotic and pretty as you would expect. However, for me it is his body and substance, short back, smooth coupling, and long strong hindquarters that set him apart. When you add long, correct legs and a neck that comes straight up out of a lovely shoulder, and finish it all off with amazing charisma, the entire package is spectacular.

I was very involved with Arabian horses in the ‘70s and ‘80s. I had spent years since then riding my horses on the trails in Oakland Hills and enjoying nature’s quiet as a balance to my hectic Real Estate career. I had been looking for a way to be involved and waited until the right moment. I heard rumors that the relatively unknown colt I’d bought a breeding to was becoming a very popular breeding choice. I decided to have a look for myself and that’s all it took to convince me.

The expert and experienced management team coupled with the creative and positive nature of the body of partners made the decision even easier.

I am the last to join the partnership and that just happened in late June. So for this year, I will breed my one mare. SW Forever Passion (Ever After NA x Midnight Pashahn [Magnum Psyche x Pashahnata]), pictured above. She is a Las Vegas World Cup Supreme Champion and Scottsdale Reserve Champion Junior Mare. She, too, has a pedigree filled with beautiful horses that made their mark in the showring.

The 2022 foaling season will establish Rakeem as the great breeding horse we feel he can be. As he matures, I see him taking his place in the showring along with his get to make a positive and exciting contribution to this great breed we all love so dearly.

This will be my first foal in over 33 years, and that in itself will be a dream fulfilled.

The sire of Aria Rakeem, FA El Rasheem (FA El Shawan x Virtuosa MLR), top, and below, Rakeem’s dam, *MD Hibat Allah (DA Valentino x *Anastasiaa).

that the Arabian horse business can work with the right horse and the right people behind him. This breed is in desperate need of breeders, and I think this builds confidence – just knowing that there are people out there who trust their own taste and understand what an Arabian horse should be and what they want to produce in their own program.”

This outlook is reflected in each of the partners who coalesced around this radiant young stallion and who are looking forward to the ride. The longrange plan is for Rakeem to breed mares for the coming year or two and enter the U.S. showrings in 2023 ... then perhaps a trip to Europe.

In talking with the partners, it’s clear that this is indeed a joyful group.

Something tells us that they’re going to have a lot of fun in the coming years.

A R I A R A RK IEAE MR A> K 6 E E <M W> O 6 R L <D W O R L D

Carol and Stu Nierenberg Carefree, Arizona Rakeem is one of those serendipitous curve balls that life pitches to you. My husband Stu and I absolutely adore Joe and Kim Orr and, while they were in town for the Scottsdale show, Joe mentioned that he and Kim were thinking of investing in a “super exciting” FA El Rasheem son. They asked if we’d like to take a look at him. Sure, why not?

We had no intention of buying into a colt, but any Rasheem would be fun to see. My mind’s eye teleported me back to Paolo Capecci’s barn in Italy, which we had visited after Aachen in 2019. Stall after stall showcased impossibly beautiful Rasheem daughters, each more astonishing than the last, all with the remarkably large liquid eyes and the short, wide, expressive face that Rasheem stamps.

Still, nothing could have prepared me for the impact of this perfect colt. As we walked up to the cheering group gathered for Aria Rakeem’s unveiling at Arabian Expressions, where he was bouncing and rearing and playing to his crowd, my sculpting fingers started to twitch. It’s that twitching – the impulse to capture a heart-stopping exquisiteness in clay – that alerts me when an Arabian is something truly special. With this unerring compass as our guide, Stu and I decided then and there to join Joe and Kim in a new adventure. Centered on this spectacular colt, shared by the gracious John Mitchell, steered by superlative Arabian pros Jeff Sloan and Greg Knowles, and salted with Joe’s and Kim’s infectious enthusiasm, it promises to be a joyous ride.

Because we discovered Rakeem late this breeding season, in 2021 he gets just one of our mares – but this mare is the pride of the Royal/Silver Box partnership pantheon: *RFI Sophie al Maktub (RFI Maktub x RFI Sophia Al Neschi), Gold Champion Senior Mare of Brazil and world-renowned dam of champions, whom we purchased and imported last fall.

Secretly, I daydream of flying this perfect stallion at full gallop over the incredible Sonoran landscape, mane and tail in all their streaming glory whipping the wind – Rakeem as desert war horse, an Adolph Schreyer painting come to life. But please don’t tell my partners – they’ll fire me, preemptively.

AriaR a k e e m Aria Rakeem Group · Contact Greg Knowles · 602-363-0003 · email: Greg@arabianexpressions.com