Though admirers of Princess Beautiful and Her Majesty believe that they are the true greats of yester years, the fact is that Balam was the first really great Indian bred race horse. Certainly, he was far more extensively campaigned than the two talented fillies.

Till the end of his classic year, Balam had raced eight times and won five races. He was runner up on the other three occasions to his paternal half brother and former Renala Stud paddock companion Prince of Ramgarh. But Balam had prevailed over the Prince in the all important Indian Derby in the year 1949.

Prince of Ramgarh did not race the following year and Mr Chandulal Shah`s champion reeled off six victories, which included five black-type races and he established a track record in three of them! He was trained by A L J Talib and Kheem Singh was his favourite rider. Incidentally, Kheem Singh is the first Indian jockey to win the coveted Indian Derby.

Passing into the ownership of Mr & Mrs K M Modi, Balam went to Calcutta, where his trainer was Balfour. A hat-trick of wins, including the Calcutta Gold Cup, made him a hot favourite for the King George VI Cuip in which he ran poorly to finish a distant third.

Back with Talib in Bombay, Balam won his second Eclipse Stakes of India beating Shan-E-Hind but the older Gwalior horse was the winner on the other two occasions.

Balam was then sent to England, when well past his prime. He raced just once, returned to India and was retired to Stud. He was put back in training in 1953-54, raced thrice and retired to stud again. He had an undistinguished stud career.

Balam`s grandma, H.O was not in the General Stud Book! In fact, she figures in Prior`s Half-Bred Stud Book! H.O was of American origin and it is by quoting her American antecedents that Balam got into the Indian Stud Book. The ploy obviously went unnoticed even when Balam raced in England.

Balam who raced between 1947 to 1954, had 25 starts and won 15 races and placed seven times to earn a total stake money of Rs. 3,75,587.

The following are the major races that Balam won:

Gr 1 Indian Derby
Gr 2 Calcutta Gold Cup,
Gr 3 Eclipse Stakes of India (twice)
Gr 3 Eve Champion Cup
Gr 3 Idar Gold Cup
Gr 3 Turf Club Cup and
Gr 3 H H Maharajadhiraj of Jammu and Kashmir`s Gold Cup.

Source: Indian Stud Book