Bin Ajwaad: Not a Complete Turkey

Bin Ajwaad, who had a brief flirtation with the local broodmare population in the mid 1990’s is not a name you expect to see in the race results these days. Therefore it was quite a surprise to see him figure as the dam sire of two Australasian metropolitan winners last weekend.

As an interesting little aside; in the case of Flemington winner Perfectly Stunning (Perfectly Ready-Swallow by Bin Ajwaad), it is just the kind of result Brighthill Farm's affable owners Nick and Anne-Marie King will be hoping for more of if Perfectly Ready is to remain marketable in the cut throat stallion business. Unfortunately for Ellerslie winner Usainity (Zed-Day Tripper by Bin Ajwaad), the success has come to late to save Zed who was banished from the Little Avondale roster last year to the breeding mecca of Central Otago.

The 16.1 hand son of the influential Rainbow Quest shuttled from England to stand the 1996 and 1997 seasons at Matamata’s Wedgewood Stud, leaving 67 live foals. After serving 57 mares in his first season the number dropped to 37 the following year which one imagines was insufficient to justify his return.

Based on race performance and pedigree it is difficult to fathom why he was not more popular with local breeders. A dual Irish group three winner at 1400m and a mile, in almost any regular year Bin Ajwaad would have been a Classic winner instead of running second to the champion miler and sire Kingmambo in the French 2000 Guineas and third in the English equivalent to Zafonic and Barathea - two other enormously talented performers who both fashioned successful stallion careers.

Bin Ajwaad was extremely well bred. On his female side he traced to Pretty Polly, one of the great taproot mare of the English Stud Book, while his dam Salidar was a half sister to three individual group one winners. Some of the families more recent alumni include leading stallions Cape Cross - whose dam Park Appeal is a half sister to Salidar - Diktat, and Iffraaj.

Rainbow Quest should not have put breeders off either, in fact quite the contrary as the Blushing Groom sireline was really hitting it’s straps down under at the time courtesy of Nassipour and Rainbow Quest’s son Quest For Fame.

Bin Ajwaad left four individual stakeswinners from his brief Southern Hemisphere sojourn, the best of which clearly was Group One New Zealand Stakes and Group Two Counties Cup winning mare Deebee Belle.

Things never got any better for Bin Ajwaad back in England and in 2001 he was sold to stand at stud in Turkey.

While his actively breeding broodmare population across Australasia now numbers just a handful, the strength of Bin Ajwaad’s pedigree should see his influence maintained in our female lines for a little while longer.