Golden bay Gelishikli, "The Incomparable", was born in 1949 at Ashkabad. He was 156 cm and graded Elite in 1962. He was named Champion of the Breed in 1964, five years before the same honor was bestowed on his famous brother 828 Fakirpelvan.
Gelishikli is by 627 Fakir-Sulu (Sluchai) and 104 Gezel (Bek Nazar Dor). He is inbred 3 x 4 to Bek Nazar Dor and 4 x 5 x 6 to Bek Nazar Al. He resembles the former to a great extent.
Gelishikli was born at Ashkabad and sold to a Turkmen horse-farm as 3 years old but he was never used for breeding there. Gelishikli's performance at the race track was not spectacular, but nevertheless he was noted for these excellent gaits which lend themselves well to performance in classical sport. In 1960 Gelishikli was acquired along with Fakirpelvan to stud at Tersk by Mr. Shambourant where he stood most of his time. Shambourant wanted both horses for their excellent "sportive" qualities; his intent was to breed Akhal-Tekes who could excel in Olympic disciplines as well as on the track, and in the Gelishikli and Fakirpelvan lines he succeeded admirably.
Today the line is presented through Gelishikli's 3 sons 699 Gundogar, 935 Yulduz and 943 Arslan. Gelishikli line is enormously popular among modern Akhal-Teke enthusiasts. Today there are more Gelishikli-line horses than those of any other line - about 30% of the breed traces to him. As the line has spread so widely, then in 2005 the decision was made to start two new lines from line Gelishikli - line Gundogar and line Melgun, the latter has played a wide part in European and American Akhal-Teke breeding. In 2006 the statistics of AT breed already included those two new lines.
(www.turanianhorse.org)
(www.maak.ru)
( "Akhaltekinskaya poroda v 2005-2006 godah." VNIIK 2007)
Photos from private collection of Aleksander Klimuk