Brazilian Breeders Cup and International Arabian Horse Show September 2007

Michele and I just returned from Brazil. Although our visit was brief, we had a wonderful time and saw some incredible horses. I was honored to be asked to judge the show, along with Bruce McCrea of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Newton Lins Filho of Rio De Janeiro and Reinaldo Da Rocha Leao of Brazil.

This was my third trip to Brazil and third time judging the Breeders Cup. This was the first time that Michele has been able to go. The Arabian Breeders Association of Brazil was very gracious and really made this a special visit for both Michele and myself.

The first part of the show featured the Breeders Cup. These were classes open to foals from 6 to 30 months. These classes were broken up into Colts and Fillies and numerous age groups. A European style scoring system was used and the scores were totaled. This system has many similarities to the one which we will be using in the US, beginning April of 2008. I really enjoyed working with it and found the experience of my fellow judges, who have used this sort of system all over the world, invaluable. Our high scoring horse was a yearling colt sired by a Brazilian Stallion named Power World JQ. This stallion traces back to US National Champion, Strike.

The latter part of the show was the International All Arabian Show. This section included a full compliment of Performance classes and a highly competitive Halter division. By Sunday’s Championships, it was obvious that Brazil had some incredible horses. The Show Champion Mare was Magic Momentt, sired by AP Special Que and out of La Cienka. She was a well bodied mare and was gorgeous. The Champion Stallion was Power World JQ, sired by World Series and out of Noble Illusion JP. This handsome horse had great substance and very nice type. Additionally, he was a very nice mover.

As far as the performance classes went, we saw some excellent horses in all divisions. One real stand out was the horse, Daruuk HEM. This horse won the Open, Amateur and Jr. Rider Western classes. He was owned by Ze Ze Rodriguez.

After the show, we were treated to a visit of Paulo Levy’s Haras Capim Fino in Jaguariuna, SP. He has been the breeder of countless Brazilian National Champions as well as exported many horses to the US. Paulo gave us a wonderful tour of his extensive facility as well as showed us many beautiful horses. In addition, he gave us an overview of his large South American fruit orchards. We both found this fascinating and were able to sample some very unique fruits.

We were fortunate to benefit from the hospitality of the association's Judges Liaison, Maria Helena-Vidal. As in years past, she made our stay a wonderful experience. Brazil is an amazing country. It has a rich culture and examples of its proud history are abundant. Both Michele and I had a great time and hope to visit again in the future.

Chris Culbreth

At the show, from left to right: Reinaldo Da Rocha, Michele Culbreth, Chris Culbreth, Bruce McCrea, Douglas Ferandes and Maria Helena-Vidal.

At the Brazilian Arabian Horse Association offices.  Maria Helena-Vidal and Michele Culbreth view the very first Stud Book started in 1947.  All entries were done by hand.


At Haras Capim Fino: Chris Culbreth, Paulo Levy and Bruce McCrea