Bahram (horse)

Thoroughbred racehorse infobox
horsename = Bahram


caption =
sire = Blandford
grandsire = Swynford
dam = Friar's Daughter
damsire = Friar Marcus
sex = Stallion
foaled = 1932
country = Ireland flagicon|Ireland
colour = Bay
breeder = HH Aga Khan III
owner = HH Aga Khan III
trainer = Frank Butters
record = 9: 9-0-0
earnings = £43,086
race = National Breeder's Produce Stakes (1934)
Rous Memorial Stakes (1934)
Middle Park Stakes (1934)
2,000 Guineas (1935)
Epsom Derby (1935)
St. Leger Stakes (1935)
St. James's Palace Stakes (1935)
awards = 14th U.K. Triple Crown Champion (1935)
honours =
updated= November 1, 2006

Bahram (1932-1956) was an Irish-bred Thoroughbred racehorse who went undefeated in his racing career and won the 1935 U.K. Triple Crown.

Born at HH Aga Khan III's stud farm on The Curragh, the colt was trained by Frank Butters at Newmarket in England. Described by equine experts as having a flawless conformation, Bahram won several important races at age two then at age three won the Triple Crown as well as the prestigious St. James's Palace Stakes.

At the end of the 1935 racing season the colt was retired to Egerton Stud in Newmarket where he became the second leading sire in 1940 and leading juvenile sire of 1941. Among his progeny was Turkhan, winner of the 1940 St. Leger Stakes and Irish Derby. Bahram was also the damsire of Noor who competed successfully in England as well as in America where he would be inducted into the United States' National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.

Following the German occupation of France during World War II, the Aga Khan fled France to the safety of Switzerland, and in September 1940, sold Bahram for £40,000 to an American syndicate made up of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr., Alfred G. Vanderbilt II, James Cox Brady, Jr. and Sylvester Labrot, Jr. In 1941, the horse was brought to Vanderbilt's Sagamore Stud in Maryland then to Walter Chrysler Jr.'s North Wales Stud in Warrenton, Virginia. Less than productive as a U.S. sire, in 1946 Bahram was sold to a breeding farm in Argentina where he met with only modest success.

Overall, Bahram sired twenty-five graded stakes race winners before his death in Argentina at age 24 in 1956.

References

* [http://www.pedigreequery.com/bahram Bahram's pedigree and racing stats]
* [http://www.horseracinghistory.co.uk/hrho/action/viewDocument?id=859 Bahram at the National Horseracing Museum, Newmarket, England]