Ancestry and Early History
Bask's sire was Witraz, by the famed Ofir, who also sired Witez II. His dam was Balalajka, a daughter of Amurath-Sahib, deemed one of Poland's finest broodmares. He was sent to the race track, as it was typical in the time for horses to be sent to race as three-year-olds in order to determine the horse's athletic ability and soundness. In 1961, Albigowa ceased breeding Arabians, so after his horse racing career, Bask was sent to the Janow Podlaski stud.
Bask was a member of a "family" of considerable significance. All but one of Balalajka's progeny were by Witraz, and hence full siblings to Bask. His full sister Arfa was the dam of Argos, who was an important sire in Great Britain for Patricia Lindsay. His full sister Bandola was a mare of significance known as "the Queen of Poland", and was the dam of Bandos, by Negatiw. Bask's 3/4 sister Bachantka (by Wielki Szlem) had been imported to the United States in 1961 by Varian Arabians, where she was a Top Ten champion and major foundation mare for the Varian program.
Bask's name was chosen by Roman Pankiewicz, who was deputy manager of Albigowa at the time. Pankiewicz stated, "I always tried to give horses short, nice names, easy to translate – because their export had already begun in those times. And Bask is a courageous inhabitant of the Basque Country in Spain...the Basques are hard-working people. And so the horse became Bask. That name suited him like no other."
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