Mahmoud (horse)

Mahmoud
Mahmoud in a 1937 photograph by Frank Griggs.
Sire	Blenheim
Grandsire	Blandford
Dam	Mah Mahal
Damsire	Gainsborough
Sex	Stallion
Foaled	1933
Country	France
Colour	Grey
Breeder	HH Aga Khan III
Owner	HH Aga Khan III
Trainer	Frank Butters
Record	11: 4-2-3
Earnings	£15,026
Major wins
Champagne Stakes (1935) Richmond Stakes (1935) Epsom Derby (1936)
Awards
Leading sire in North America (1946) Leading broodmare sire in North America (1957)

Mahmoud (1933–1962) was a French-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In a career which lasted from April 1935 to September 1936 he ran eleven times and won four races. In 1935 he won two of Britain's most important two-year-old races and was officially rated the second best colt of his generation. In 1936 he won only once from five starts, but this win came in the Epsom Derby in which he set a race record which stood for fifty-nine years, and became the third of only four greys to win the race. After being retired from racing he was sold and exported to the United States, where he became a highly successful breeding stallion and was America's Champion sire in 1946.

Mahmoud was a light-coloured grey horse of distinctly Arab appearance standing just under 15.3 hands high bred in France by his owner the Aga Khan. As a yearling he was considered surplus to requirements by his owner and put up for auction at the Deauville sales. When he failed to reach his reserve price the Aga Khan decided to race him and sent him to England to be trained by Frank Butters at the Fitzroy House stable in Newmarket, Suffolk.

Mahmoud's parents were the Derby winner Blenheim and the grey mare Mah Mahal, both of whom raced in the Aga Khan's colours. He was the first foal of Mah Mahal, who made little impact as a racehorse, winning two unimportant contests, but was an influential broodmare, with her descendants including Migoli and Petite Etoile.

Mahmoud began his career by running a race at Newmarket in the spring which was declared void after thirteen of the sixteen jockeys failed to notice a false start and completed the full course. In June Mahmoud ran at Royal Ascot and finished third in the New Stakes (a race now known as the Norfolk Stakes) behind Dorothy Paget's unnamed "Bossover colt", who was later named Wyndham. Mahmoud then established himself as one of the best two-year-olds of the season by winning his next three races. He won the Exeter Stakes at Newmarket's July meeting and then moved up in class for the Richmond Stakes over six furlongs at Goodwood later in the month. He won "very stylishly" from Confession Boy and Vanbrugh. In the Champagne Stakes at Doncaster in September he led from the start and won again, defeating the French-bred colt Abjer by three quarters of a length and reversing the Ascot form with the Bossover colt who finished third. At the time the race was regarded as having confirmed Mahmoud's position as the best two-year-old of the year. On his final start of the season, he ran in the Middle Park Stakes at Newmarket in October, one of the most prestigious two-year-old races of the season. He finished third, beaten two lengths and a head by Abjer and the Bossover colt, but appeared an unlucky loser, having lost a great deal of ground at the start. His status as a potential Derby winner was questioned after this defeat by some commentators who believed that his pedigree and performances suggested that he would struggle to stay one and a half miles. At least one of the leading British racing correspondents argued that he would not even stay the one mile distance of the 2000 Guineas.