Ring Hill Farm

Home of Legion VF (*Bandos x Garnet by *Bask)

The following is a copy of the reprint from ARABIANS magazine, January, 1983.
Written by Dixie Ryan and Dr William Pietruszka, it chronicles the history and subsequent sale and importation of the stallion *Bandos.

*Bandos Comes To America

*Bandos: The Sire

The grey stallion *Bandos was foaled in 1964. Sired by Negatiw and out of Bandola, he is considered one of Poland’s finest sires. *Bandos stood at Janow Podlaski from 1969 through 1976. He moved to Michalow Stud in 1977 and remained there through 1979. After spending 1980 at Kurosweki Stud he was returned to Janow for the 1981 breeding season. In September, 1982 he was sold during the Polish Prestige Sale at Janow Podlaski Stud, Poland, for $806,000 to Ventura Farms of California.

During his breeding years in Poland he sired 129 foals. Sixteen Bandos daughters remain in Polish broodmare bands and four of his sons stand at stud in Poland:

• Wist, grey stallion, foaled in 1973 out of the mare Wilma (Pietuszok x Worskla) stands at Janow Podlaski.

• Eternit, grey stallion foaled in 1976, out of the mare Etna (Faher x Elzunia) is standing in 1982 at

Janow Podlaski. He was used at Michalow in 1980-81.

• Pepton, grey stallion foaled in 1977 out of the mare Pemba (Czort x Penza) stands at Michalow Stud.

• Eukaliptus, grey stallion foaled in 1974 is presently on lease to Lasma Arabians, Scottsdale, Ariz. His dam was the Comet daughter Eunice.

•*Enoss a grey stallion, was imported in spring, 1982 by Nichols-DeLongpre before his first foal crop had arrived in Poland.

*Bandos himself is a very beautiful individual. Representing primarily the Saglawi type, he produces highly refined foals that consistently show strong athletic ability. *Bandos’ dam Bandola, a full sister to *Bask + + , is a strong perpetrator of the Ofir line, whose athletic prowess has been proven on Poland’s racetracks.

In Poland, ^*Bandos is considered the most influential Saglawi-type stallion, producing beautiful heads, and fine, long necks. He was used mostly to cross on Kohelian-type mares; however, his best nick and finest offspring result from crosses to Comet daughters. The get of this nick have proven to be very good race horses and, in the United States, show great potential as top performance horses.

Several *Bandos/Comet mares have been retained by Poland to breed to Koheilan stallions (Ofir line) with the intention of producing top race horses and future U.S. imported performance horses. The refinement and prettiness of these mares results from the link to Naseem through ^tBandos’sire Negatiw. Negatiw represents the lbrahim sire line through Skowronek.

The speculated replacement for *Bandos in Poland is Wist, although none of *Bandos’ sons have had enough foals on the ground to determine with certainty the level of their siring capabilities. Some of ^*Bandos’ sons now appear to be prettier—and possibly more correct—than ^*Bandos himself: however, the Poles are content to wait and see which stallion will emerge as the permanent replacement for *Bandos.

Many of the *Bandos get have been successful in the show ring. Winda, out of Wilma, was Junior Champion of Poland. Energia, out of Engracja, was gold medal winner in Stockholm in 1982 and her full sister was Reserve Junior Champion of Poland and Champion of Europe in 1979 in Paris. Sons Enoss and Eukaliptus have each been chosen champion stallion of Poland, Eukaliptus in 1979 and Enoss in 1981.

The show ring and production records are not the only areas of success for the get of *Bandos.

In 1980, three *Bandos daughters were sold at the Polish Prestige Sale: Enklawa sold for $85,000; Campilla for $80,000 and Tawerna for $15,000.

There were three *Bandos daughters again in 1981 : Para sold for $37,000; Donina for $10,000 and Kampania for $31 000.

In 1982, his daughter Farsa brought $85,000 and El Banda sold for $41,000. *Bandos himself, now a stately 18-years-old, brought an $806,000 bid from David Murdock.

After leaving the country of his birth and traveling many hours by truck and then by plane, he recently arrived in the U.S. in top shape, and has adjusted beautifully to his new surroundings.

Those who have known *Bandos say that when in the stall he is very pleasant and quiet, however, when brought out he is full of fire and very animated.

This amazing ‘‘grand old man’’ has sired 129 foals, many of which are champions, and his foals have averaged for a three-year-period a price of $49,000 in the Polish Prestige Sales. This is even more amazing when one considers the reduction of sale attendance due to political problems in Poland and the continuing recession in the United States.

The pedigree of *Bandos contains some of the most sought-after blood in the world. A study of the pedigree leaves no doubt that ^*Bandos was bred to be a great sire. His sire Negatiw is one of the most esteemed stallions in breeding history.

His dam Bandola is known as "The Queen of Poland’’, and those fortunate enough to have viewed her in person quickly understand why she was given this title. Bandola, even at her advanced age of 34 years, has a very special beauty, and even she seems to realize that she is indeed the queen.

*Bandos’ pedigree is literally filled with horses of great renown for their unparalleled production records. Witraz, Amurath Sahib, Fetysz and Skowronek certainly need no introduction to Arabian fanciers. The appearance of the beautiful mare, Gazella II, adds even more quality to what already seems to be an impeccable pedigree.

The very distinguished and knowledgeable Roman Pankiewicz, a consultant to the Polish Studs and author of several articles and books about Polish Arabians, discusses the pedigree of *Bandos as follows:

"The Ibrahim line through Skowronek is now the strongest and most widely represented in Poland, but after World War II The Polish Studs did not have a single representative of this strain renowned all over the world...one of Naseem’s sons out of a magnificent, Polish-bred mare Taraszcza (1937) was the grey Negatiw
(1945), a horse with three-fourths Polish ancestry. His son *Naborr (1950), out of a Polish mare Lagodna, was imported to Poland from the USSR in 1956, as was Negatiw himself in 1962.
Since 1969, Bandos has been chief stallion at the Janow Podlaski Stud, distinguishing himself among the other Arabian sires being used in Poland.
*Bandos is snow white, of great beauty and refinement and passing these qualities along to his foals. Nine of his daughters are in broodmare bands in Poland.
Negatiw is sire of 20 broodmares, all famous for their classic beauty. His offspring are known all over the world.

In France, his son Giaur, out of Granica, was show champion stallion at Haras de Pompadour in 1975, and .Baj, out of Bajdara, is chief stallion in Pompadour State Stud. The stallion Diem, out of Dimatra, is a chief stallion and esteemed sire in GFR, and in Holland, Gon, out of Gomora, is also at stud.

In the United States, *Naborr, out of Lagodna, sired 35 champions, 15 of them foaled in Poland. Included are *Dornaba, out of Darda, who was U.S. and Canadian National Champion Mare; her full brother Dardir was champion stallion at the Salon Du Cheval, Paris 1973 and leading sire in Sweden. He was also sire of champions in France.
Aramus, out of Amneris, and *Gwalior out of Gwadiana, were both champions. *Buszmen, out of Busnica is also a champion; *Cebion, out of Celia, was an East Coast champion; *Etiw, out of Etna, is chief stallion at Sir William Farm; *Fantazja, out of Fornarina, was a US. and Canadian top ten mare; *Piersnica, out of Piesn; *Cerezyna, out of Cierlciew and *Dagmara, the high-selling mare at the 1974 Janow sale, is out of Daszawa.

The dam. of *Bandos, *Bandola, is a full sister to*Bask + +, the leading sire of champions in the United States. The offspring of *Bask + + have won over 600 championships to date. BandoIa, a great broodmare of immortal beauty, has in her incredible breeding career produced five great stallions:

• *Bandos;

• Bajram, by Pietuszok, Canadian National Champion Stallion and for many years a top stallion at L asma;

• Barysz, by Faher, many times champion in Canada and the US. including Canadian Top Ten;

• Banat, by El Azrak, leased in exchange with stallion Burkan for Miss Particia Lindsay, Stockings Farm, Great Britain. He won titles of Great Champion Stallion at the Royal Horse Show and Reserve National Champion Stallion of England;

• Banzaj, by Czort, chief stallion in Poland where he left valuable offspring before he was exported to the U.S. in 1975.

Two other Bandola daughters, Beatrice and Banda, (both by Pietuszok) belong to the most esteemed broodmare band at Janow Podlaski."

*Bandos himself is strongly characteristic of the Negatiw/Naseem line, a typical Saglawi type of horse—very typey Arabian and very pretty as an individual. *Bandos all together, may have some weaknesses but his appearance is that of a typical, beautiful, white Arabian horse. Structurally, he seems to produce offspring that are more correct than himself, but most importantly, as both the Poles and Americans close to him concur, *Bandos is genetically reproducing the Saglawi type he so strongly represents.

The importation of ^*Bandos ranks among the top importations in recent years. At 18 years old, *Bandos still has the years ahead of him to make his mark on Arabian horse breeding in America.

The decision to acquire *Bandos and the events associated with it are an interesting story. Ventura Farms in recent years has acquired one of the largest and perhaps finest bands of Comet daughters in the world. The addition of *Bandos to this herd follows the practice of the Polish stud masters who have uncovered the value of the *Bandos/Comet cross. Although Ventura has chosen to limit *Bandos’ book to only a few outside mares, the resulting foals from the existing Ventura mare band should make a valuable commodity available to American breeders.

Although the desire to purchase *Bandos emerged from Murdocks visit to Poland last year, the stallion was not available for purchase. Surprisingly, in a decision that has not been popular with all Polish breeders, senior Polish officials decided to make *Bandos available in the 1982 Polish Prestige Sale. The appearance of political instability in Poland combined with a general feeling that many Poles were opposed to letting *Bandos leave, meant that the recent Polish Prestige Sale was without its usual level of enthusiasm.

However, the enthusiasm generated by *Bandos new owners is sufficient to compensate for any the sellers lacked. In the following interview, Ventura Farms Managers Bill and Terry Gregory share some of their experiences leading up to and through the purchase of the Polish Arabian *Bandos:

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Arabians: When did you first see *Bandos and what was your impression?

Gregory: In September, 1981 Mr. Murdock, owner of Ventura, traveled to Janow Podlaski to attend the Polish Prestige Sale. He invited Terry to attend the sale, also. It was there that they saw *Bandos for the first time. Mr. Murdock and Terry both knew a great deal about *Bandos but were even more impressed than they had expected.

Arabians: Did Mr. Murdock decide at that time to make the purchase?

Gregory: No, I don’t think so. I am sure he knew then that he would like to own the horse, but there were many thing to be considered. *Bandos was an older horse, and it was doubtful whether the Poles would sell him. Terry fell in love with the horse, and we jokingly state he became ‘her’ horse. It was really Terry’s determination and perseverance that made this dream become a reality. It was she that kept convincing us—particularly Mr. Murdock—that we must have *Bandos.

Arabians: What was it specifically that impressed Mr. Murdock?

Gregory: He was very aware of the capabilities of *Bandos as a sire. We have on the farm several mares who have produced champion stock sired by *Bandos. We also have five Comet daughters. Everyone knows about the nick with Comet daughters bred to *Bandos. We had a barn full of reasons to want to own *Bandos. His beauty is admired by all and his fame has come because of his record as a sire, Mr. Murdock believes ‘‘you never have a great farm until you have a great stallion’’. We have some outstanding stallions, but with consideration to our mares and their production records, *Bandos would make Ventura Farms truly complete.

Arabians: Did you really think Poland would sell the horse?

Gregory: We didn’t know. He was very important to their breeding program and had, of course, been very profitable for their auctions. We also realized they had several of his sons standing at stud in Poland. The only way we could find out about his availability was to ask.

Arabians: What happened when you did ask?

Gregory: We made an offer, a very large offer. . but it seems that in most cases Polish officials do not sell Arabian horses except through public auction. After discussion, it was decided that they would sell him, but he would be lot number one at the Polish Prestige Sale in September, 1982.

Arabians: Did Mr. Murdock attend the sale and purchase the horse?

Gregory: No, Mr. Murdock could not get away at that time due to business commitments. He sent Terry and myself to attempt the purchase. We were not sure whether we could buy the horse, as there were other people just as interested as we were.

Arabians: Considering that this was the first time you had seen *Bandos what was your impression at first sight?

Gregory: Fantastic! Just fantastic! I knew he was beautiful, but when I saw him he was even better than I could have imagined. Other people who have visited the farm since he arrived have said the same thing.

Arabians: Were there several bidders actively bidding on the horse?

Gregory: Considering the terms of the sale and the way it was handled, there were just a few bidders qualified to bid by the time the sale started. Ken Johnson of Nevada and Don Lester of Louisiana (represented by Dr. James Budd of Michigan) bid right to the last. We purchased him for $806,000.

Arabians: Do you remember your feeling moments after the gavel went down?

Gregory: I don’t remember a great deal. We were pretty excited. I just remember feeling relief, excitement and disbelief. I had to sit for a moment and gather my thoughts. ^*Bandos was actually coming to California!

Arabians: Tell us a little bit about the actual trip with *Bandos from Poland to the United States.

Gregory: Well, as you probably know, due to political problems we could not get permission to land the cargo ship in Warsaw. This meant that we had to truck the horses to Amsterdam and fly from there. Many extra arrangements had to be made because of these problems. We just turned the whole thing over to Joe Santarelli (of Mersant International) and knew it would be well handled.
I would not allow ^*Bandos to leave Janow in the truck until I was there to travel with him. I insisted on this, so we began planning. Just before I was to leave for a Saturday arrival, we were informed that Saturday was the day set to outlaw Solidarity in Poland. I was a bit concerned that I would not be able to get in if there was a problem, so I rescheduled and arrived on Friday instead.
One of Mersants men, Ray Zolzer, arrived on Saturday and met me. I cannot say enough about this fellow and his assistance throughout the trip. The whole bunch at Mersant are terrific, but this fellow really went out of his way on several occasions. Anyway, Ray and I waited on Saturday for the vans to arrive from Sweden. Another Mersant man arrived that afternoon, and we all waited together.
Finally, on Sunday, the trucks arrived and we found them totally unacceptable. They were totally out of the question, so a new group of vehicles was dispatched.
They finally arrived and they were just great. Actually, the truck was a Mercedes with a six-horse body and a six-horse trailer behind.
*Bandos had two stalls. He rode in the front of the truck body and I rode right under his head during the entire trip. I had a couch down there under the feeding compartment. It was a 36-hour trip and he did just great all the way.

Arabians: Were there any moments that had you worried during this trip?

Gregory: Not really. The horse traveled beautifully. He didn’t fret, he drank water whenever it was given to him.. .he didn’t lose one pound during the entire importation trip.
We had several delays. We had a four-hour holdup at the East German-Polish border. Nothing special, just delays. Another two-hour delay took place at the East German-West German border and still another for one hour at the Dutch border.
Our arrival in Amsterdam was pleasant and the quarantine facilities there were excellent. ^*Bandos had a slight temperature that morning, but was treated and by evening was completely back to normal. We prepared to leave the next morning. The plane we were to take for the United States was having some problems, so we had a few hours delay while they changed planes, and then we were on our way.

Arabians: How long of a flight was it from Amsterdam to Los Angeles?

Gregory: It was about 11 hours. It was a KLM flight with mostly passengers. It was kind of funny now that I think about it. We had passengers, horses and even a Mercedes.
Normally neither grooms nor owners can actually travel in the compartments with the horses. The agent for Mersant, however, made special arrangements, and I was allowed to fly the entire trip right with *Bandos. The trip was great and the horse never got the least bit upset.

Arabians: Just when did you arrive at Los Angeles?

Gregory: I believe it was Oct. 15, which should be a Friday evening. Our flight was late because of the delay at the Amsterdam airport, and there was Joe Santarelli pacing and waiting. It had been a good trip, but we were all happy to see *Bandos safely on U.S. soil. We were tired but extremely happy. ^*Bandos was placed in quarantine for 48 hours. We picked him up and took him home on Sunday afternoon.

Arabians: Tell us about the horse. What type of disposition does he have and how is he adjusting to his new life?

Gregory: His disposition is phenomenal. He is just a fantastic horse. He arrived at the farm totally calm and with no ill effects from the trip. I turned him out the next day in a paddock and he looked fantastic out there. I was amazed that a few hours later, when I walked out to bring him back in, he walked right up to me. After a few days, he decided that the paddock was a pretty nice place to go and he wasn’t so easy to catch. Now his adjustment is totally normal. He looks forward to going out...then when it is time to come in he comes quickly and is equally excited about that.
It still sometimes seems unbelievable when we stand and look at him that he is actually here. He is a wonderful horse.

Arabians: Are you breeding any outside mares to *Bandos this year?

Gregory: Yes, due to many requests, we decided that this year we would accept 20 outside mares for *Bandos We already have requests for more than the 20 breedings, but we will keep it at 20. We are breeding 30 Ventura mares to him this year, which should put approximately 50 *Bandos foals on the ground in 1984. We have a lot to look forward to