A Look Back -- Jerry person

Jerry Person

The other day a lady stopped into the Newland House and wanted to know

what we knew about “Serano, the wonder horse” stabled at Beach Boulevard

and Talbert Avenue many years ago. That got me to thinking of how our

four-footed friends have contributed to our area’s rich history.

This week our story deals with a famous horse who was once owned by

royalty and is linked to the history of our neighboring town of Fountain

Valley.

The Plavan family goes back a long way in Fountain Valley’s history

and we are going to look at Taj Akbar, a royal stallion that roamed the

Urban H. Plavan pastures.

Our blue-blooded bay came into this world in 1933 from a royal line of

horses. He was sired by Fairway-Taj Shirin by way of Gainsborough and he

was owned by the Aga Khan when he lived in England.

Taj’s early years were happy years romping in the English countryside.

When Taj was three the Aga Khan ran him in the 1936 Epson Derby in

England along with his stablemate Mahmoud.

Mahmoud was the Khan’s favorite and legend has it that the Khan gave

instructions to his jockeys that Taj Akbar was not to pass his favorite

gray, Mahmoud.

During the race Taj kept up with his stablemate and in the end came in

second by a head to Mahmoud.

Some racing people at the time felt that Taj Akbad could have won that

race. But in other races Taj went on to distinguish himself.

When Taj was four the Aga Khan sold him to Major Hartmann Pauly, an

Austrian horseman, for breeding on Pauly’s farm in France.

But as a stud Taj’s career was to be cut short by the opening days of

World War II. When Hitler’s army invaded France, Pauly feared that the

Nazis would seize Taj and the rest of his horses as their “prisoners of

war” and so under the Nazis’ very noses Pauly had Taj Akbar secretly

taken out of France to Austria to live.

Taj would remain in Austria during most of the war, but as the

Russians pushed toward Taj’s home, Pauly had Taj and his stablemates

removed to a safer place. He feared that the Russians would either take

or kill the horses if they found them.

The Russians never found Taj but the American Army did and Taj was

seized by an American cavalry officer. Taj was shipped off to America by

Colonel Fred L. Hamilton of the U.S. Army.

Hamilton had hoped that Taj and his other “horse fugitives” would be

admitted into the American Stud Book. Hamilton needed the Jockey Club to

certify the blood lines of these animals. But the Jockey Club would not

give the necessary papers to Hamilton.

But Hamilton became more insistent and even threatened to bring the

Congress in to help him.

If Taj had his papers he would have made a lot of money for Hamilton,

but as it were Taj and his stablemates were just plain horses.

Enter again Major Pauly, who had fled his Nazi-occupied Austria for

America and was now claiming his horse.

During this time Taj went to live on the Rex Ellsworth ranch for a

couple of years while ownership was straightened out.

On the Ellsworth ranch Taj would be bred with several of Ellsworth’s

mares. While there he was mated with a 2-year-old filly named Naiad. But

Naiad was ultimately sold and Taj was left alone.

In April 1953 Urban Plavan bought Taj and brought him to live on his

ranch at 19501 Cannery St. (now Magnolia Street) in Fountain Valley to

live.

In May of that year the Jockey Club finally accepted Taj Akbar to be

added to its list and so after so many years Taj was now registered.

But when Taj first arrived at the Plavan racing stables he found his

mate Naiad and the two would roam the Plavan’s pastures with their new

offspring.

And so we end this story with the royal couple in their happy home in

Fountain Valley and becoming part of this town’s rich history.

* JERRY PERSON is a local historian and longtime Huntington Beach

resident. If you have ideas for future columns, write him at P.O. Box

7182, Huntington Beach, CA 92615.