Priam (horse)

Priam
Priam. Painting by John Frederick Herring, Sr.
Sire	Emilius
Grandsire	Orville
Dam	Cressida
Damsire	Whiskey
Sex	Stallion
Foaled	1827
Country	United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
Colour	Bay
Breeder	Sir John Shelley
Owner	William Chifney George Stanhope, 6th Earl of Chesterfield
Trainer	William Chifney John Kent
Record	19:17-1-1
Major wins
Epsom Derby (1830) Craven Stakes (1831) Port Stakes (1831) Goodwood Cup (1831, 1832)
Honours
Leading sire in Great Britain and Ireland (1839, 1840) Leading sire in North America (1842, 1844, 1845, 1846)

Priam (1827–1847) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In a career that lasted from April 1830 to July 1832 he ran nineteen times and won seventeen races, including four walkovers. Unraced as a two-year-old he won seven of his eight starts in 1830 most notably the Epsom Derby. He continued to win major races, including successive runnings of the Goodwood Cup for the next two seasons before being retired to stud. He proved to be a successful sire of winners in both Britain and the United States. Priam was regarded by experts as one of the best horses to have raced in England up to that time.

Priam was a bay horse with two white feet standing 15.3 hands high, bred in Sussex by Sir John Shelley. As a yearling he was bought at auction for 1,000 guineas by William Chifney, who trained racehorses at Newmarket, Suffolk. Chifney owned the colt in partnership with his brother, the jockey Sam Chifney and Maximilian Dilly. He had previously been offered to Lord Jersey, who rejected the colt on the grounds that he looked prone to ringbone.

Priam's sire, Emilius, won the Derby in 1823 and went on to become a successful stallion at the Riddlesworth stud which was owned and run by Thomas Thornhill. Apart from Priam, Emilius’s best winners included Plenipotentiary (Derby), Riddlesworth (2000 Guineas) and Mango (St Leger) and he was British Champion sire in 1830 and 1831. Priam's dam, Cressida was a full sister to the mare Eleanor, who won the 1801 Derby. Cressida had previously produced the 1819 2000 Guineas winner Antar.