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Leading Arabian Sire Desert Challenge Pensioned
Original article written by Emily White posted 10 years 0 weeks agoDisappointing news reached the ears of Arabian breeders on Thursday when Desert Challenge was officially retired from stud duty. The bay stallion, who resides at Orange Park Stud in California, was found to have declining fertility after a long and successful stud career.
On the track, he was very successful, winning fourteen stakes races for owner Landon Alexander. Along the way, he beat horses like Pollini, Sandfire and Haydar, running through ages three to seven. He boasts a race record of sixteen wins out of thirty-four starts, earning 438 points, which puts him at fourth on the all-time points list.
Desert Challenge entered stud at a fee of $8,500, which eventually climbed to as high as $15,000. His most successful offspring to date is champion Muthadi, who finished second to Balthazar in the Steward's Cup Arabian Dash last time out. Other successes include multiple stakes winner Bint Balquis and Kep Kep, a stakes-winning half-sister to Kaifa Haloka. He has sired the earners of just over $2 million.
The fourteen year-old stallion was getting close to pensioning time at the start of the year, and owner Alexander knew it. He lowered Desert Challenge's fee to a very inexpensive $2,500, doing the same for his other aging stallions. Desert Challenge is the first to be pensioned out of his barn. Other fourteen year-olds in the Alexander barn are leading sire Sandfire, as well as Darley and Mcbain.
Desert Challenge was a key element in the Arabian breeding industry and will be sorely missed. Among the foals in his final crop are horses out of stakes producing mares like Nahlah, Anisa and Afra.