Cudgebar Arabian Horse Breeding Farm
Cuddlebar Stud has been breeding pure colonial Arabian horses in Australia since the stud’s founding by Mary and Jack Ellery and their son Les in 1930. The Ellerys had been the horse tamers for the McDonald stud since its inception in the First World War years World Cup and remained so until McDonald’s dispersal in 1953. The two stallions enjoyed a close association.
McDonalds had founded his stud farm with five Arabians from Brown’s stud farm at his death, the stallions Harir (Berk x Hamasa de Mesaoud x Bint Helwa), Raisuli (Rief x Ayesha de Rafyk x Namusa), Prince Nejd (Shahzada x Nejdmieh) and all sisters Rabi and Sekh (Rafyk x Ahmar Namusa x Mesaoud Narghileh). Mr. Brown was one of three men who had purchased Arabians at the dispersal sale of Australia’s original stallion, Quambi, the others being AE Morrow and the Hon. S. Winter Cooke. From the Quambi dispersal, Mr. Brown had purchased the stallion Faraoun (Mesaoud x Fulana) and full sisters Sekh, Rabi and Anyesa. The Quambi stallion was Australia’s first Arabian stallion, founded from imports of Blunts’ Crabbet Park stallion between 1891 and 1901. Lady Anne Blunt later gifted the Rief stallion to Commander R. Brown. Rief (Sotamn x Ridaa de Merzuk x Rose of Sharon) became an important bloodline for the Cuddlebar Stud.
The Cuddlebar stud farm was born with the purchase from McDonalds of the Kailhan stallion (Raisuli x Zarif de Faraoun), followed later by the Mameluke stallion (Raisuli x Gadara from the son of Berk Harir x Zarif de Faraoun) and the leasing of the Balkis mares (Shahzada x Nejdmieh ) and Esther (Shahzada x Miriam de Nadir x Ranya de Nasik).
In 1953, Harold McDonald classified Les and said that they were dispersing the stud. He told Les that he could buy the selection from the ponds. They chose three females,
the mare Midi who was pregnant by Anouk (Rakib x Arabette by Raisuli x Sa-id), the heavily bred yearling filly by Shahzada Rumma (Aladdins Lamp x Jeddah by Prince Nejd) and the elderly Esther, who did not breed again . Les was particularly struck by a chestnut mare he hadn’t seen before. Harold told him that the mare was 13 years old, had never been ridden or bred. The mare was Yenbo II, full sister of the famous father Zadaran. He eventually won numerous awards for hacking with it. McDonalds had raised Kasr (b. 1951, Sala x Esther de Shahzada) and leased him to Les for two years in exchange for his saddle education. Les bred Yenbo II with him, and the resulting foal was Darik.
From the Chamber of the Darik Line Australian National Heavyweight Endurance Horse, Cuddlebar Drifter (ex. UAE); Golden Saber, Line Honours, Sydney to Melbourne “Bite the Bullet” 500 Mile Ride, Cuddlebar Kasr, Stockmans Hall of Fame Heavyweight Winner, and Logie Brae Hassan, National Open Endurance Horse.
In 1979 and 1980, Les leased the collegiate stallion Helicon from Hyksos Stud. Helicon (Sala x the Jelbart mare Mira by Kataf x Melika) was a 7/8 brother to Arcadian’s dam, well known as the sire of many endurance winners, including Quilty winner Robbie, and grandfather of BBP Electra Murdoch. Both Helicon’s mother Mira and Mira’s mother Melika were raised by Mr. Jelbart himself. Jelbart’s stallion had been founded on the lines of Quambi, Winter-Cooke, Leonard-Brown, with the addition of the Kataf stallion, imported by Mr. Bonython from South Australia in 1935. Kataf’s sire was desert bred , and his mother was from Ali Pasha Sherif Lines. The NSW Department of Agriculture was founded with eighteen Jelbart mares.
Helicon was only two generations from the desert. From Helicon, Les produced heavyweight endurance winning horses and 100-mile endurance race winners.
In the 1990s, Les used Christine Speers’ stallion Cairo*, whose sire was 100% pure Australian colonial lines originally exported to New Zealand, and whose dam’s parents, Manak and Nuhra, were desert bred. Cairo’s best-performing son is Cuddlebar Tarquin, the 2006 NSW and National lightweight points horse and NSW and runner-up National distance horse. Les likes closely bred desert horses in a pedigree, as he says people haven’t had that long to mess with the original type.
In late 2006, 83-year-old Les Ellery, after decades of drought, decided to move his entire stud farm to the far north of New Zealand. In 2008, Les returned to Australia, having left most of his horses behind in New Zealand.