Nasrullah: Forgotten Patriarch of the American Thoroughbred
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About this ebook
Nasrullah arrived in Kentucky in 1950 and forever changed the modern American thoroughbred.
Bred in royalty by the Aga Kahn, Nasrullah's journey from Europe to America was one of glorious victories and grand potential. He was the first horse to lead both the American and English sire lists, which led to a legendary line of descendants that includes nine U.S. champions, three Hall of Famers and ninety-eight stake winners like Bold Ruler, Noor and Nashua. Nasrullah is even grandsire of the famed Secretariat. Ride along with author Melanie Greene as she recounts the compelling history of a truly remarkable horse that is sure to take any equestrian fan beyond the bluegrass.
Melanie Greene
Melanie Greene is a lifelong equestrian and horse racing enthusiast. She has worked at stables, conducted riding lessons, and competed for her university's equestrian team. Greene has also completed academic research in equine science. This is her first book. Milton C. Toby is an attorney and History Press author of the award winning Dancer's Image and Noor. He has published multiple titles on equine law and business for Blood-Horse Publications and has been a writer for The Blood-Horse magazine since 1972. Additionally, he has published articles with Kentucky Monthly, and The Thoroughbred Record.
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- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5I enjoyed the book very much. I learned a great deal about a subject I have a keen interest in. Very well formatted and written.
Book preview
Nasrullah - Melanie Greene
inspiration.
Chapter 1
INTO ROYALTY A KING IS BORN
The year 1940 was one of triumph and turmoil. For the United Kingdom, it started off with tragedy—a foreshadowing of sinister events to come. On January 9, the British submarine HMS Starfish was sunk by a German minesweeper at Heligoland Bight, and its crew was captured. It would be the first of many attacks at sea that year.
At the start of World War II, Ireland was a dominion of the British Empire and a member of the Commonwealth. The Anglo-Irish Treaty of 1921 declared Ireland’s independence; as a result of the Statute of Westminster, Britain’s involvement in the war did not automatically include its dominions. Ireland was thus able to maintain its policy of neutrality throughout the duration of the war. But that did not ensure the safety and peace of its people.
On February 7, the passenger ship Munster became the first Irish ship to be sunk in World War II, after it was mined in Liverpool Bay. Over two hundred passengers and the crew of fifty, including commander Captain J. Paisley, escaped in lifeboats and were rescued a few hours later by the collier Ringwall.
Overseas, happier times were being had in the United States. The very first McDonald’s restaurant opened on May 15 in San Bernardino, California. It wouldn’t be until 1979, however, that the first Happy Meal appeared. Sport was forever changed with the first television broadcasts. The first televised hockey game was broadcast on February 25, followed by the first televised basketball game three days later. On April 13, the New York Rangers won the Stanley Cup for the third time, beating out the Toronto Maple Leafs. It would be another fifty-four years before they tasted victory again.
A pivotal moment in American racing came on April 12, opening day at Jamaica Racetrack, which featured the use of parimutuel betting equipment. Other New York tracks quickly followed suit. Tote betting, as it is known in the United Kingdom, had been introduced there eleven years prior by Winston Churchill, who established the Racehorse Betting Control Board in 1928. The first major flat-race meetings with tote betting were at Newmarket, on the July Course, in 1929.
Amidst political and societal turmoil, a brown Thoroughbred colt was born on March 2, 1940, at Sheshoon Stud in County Kildare, Ireland. He was named Nasrullah, an Arabic name meaning victory of God.
Sheshoon Stud is the oldest continuously operating stud in England or Ireland. It was also the first Irish farm purchased by the third Aga Khan, spiritual leader of the Ismaili sect of Shia Muslims.
The influence of the Aga Khan family on Thoroughbred breeding over the past century or so has been immense. Tony Morris, of the European Bloodstock News, was quoted as having said he would be prepared to bet a substantial sum that there is no notable thoroughbred in the world without some example of Aga Khan breeding in its background.
¹
Sultan Mahomed Shah was born in Karachi, Pakistan, in 1877. He inherited the title of Aga Khan III in 1886 at just eight years of age, after his father’s sudden death from pneumonia. Not long afterward, he received the title of His Highness from Queen Victoria.
The Aga Khan’s grandfather, Aga Hasan Ali Shah, Imam of the Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims, was given the title of Aga Khan I by the emperor of Persia, Fat’h Ali Shah Qajar. The name Aga Khan derives from the Turkish military title agha combined with the Turkic, Mongolian or Persian/Pashto title khan, translated as commanding chief.
Aga Khan I had been governor general of the Persian province of Kerman before a dispute with the shah led him to seek the protection of the British in India. His eldest son, Aqa Ali Shah, succeeded his father in 1882, but his time as Aga Khan II was short-lived, lasting only four years and ending with his untimely