The magnificent globe-trotting mare, Dahlia, was based in France where she competed in 21 of her 48 career races spanning five years. She also raced six times in England and once each in Italy and Ireland. Dahlia also ran extensively in North America, crossing the Atlantic three times and competing in 19 races, seventeen in the United States and two at Woodbine in Canada.

Though Dahlia represented France, she was actually foaled and raised at Claiborne Farm in Kentucky by Nelson Bunker Hunt, renowned for either breeding or purchasing horses bred in the U.S. and then shipping them across the Atlantic where they would tackle Europe’s best before being shipped back to North America to run against grade one company. Hunt’s Exceller, another top-rated horse, should be included in this group.

Dahlia was sired by Irish-bred Chef de Race Vaguely Noble, a son of Vienna, a minor stakes winner in France. Voted the champion three-year-old in France in 1968 with a Timeform Rating of 140, which in 1968 rated the fifth best all-time, Vaguely Noble won four stakes that year, including the Arc de la Triomphe over Sir Ivor, after which he syndicated for a record $5 million and then shipped to John R. Gaines’ Gainesway Farm in Lexington, Kentucky.

Vaguely Noble had a highly successful career at stud. Tracing back to the great stallion Hyperion through his sire and dam, Noble Lassie, he sired seventy graded stakes winners and was the broodmare sire of more than 165 stakes winners. Among his best were Exceller, Epsom Derby winner Empery, top turf mare Estrapade, rated the fifth best turf mare on our list, million-dollar earner and American champion Lemhi Gold, Epsom Oaks winner Jet Ski Lady, and Dahlia.

Dahlia’s dam, Charming Alibi (1963), was by multiple stakes winner Honey’s Alibi and was out of the Beau Pere mare Honeymoon, a major stakes winner on dirt in the U. S.  Dahlia was by far the best of her twelve foals, nine of which raced with seven of those winning.

Dahlia began her career in France in 1972 and broke her maiden in the Prix Yacowlef Stakes, a race restricted to first-time starters. In her fourth and final start that year, she showed promise when finishing second, beaten a length by Begara, in the about six-furlong Prix des Reservois at Longchamp.

1973 was Dahlia’s coming out year. She ran ten times between April and November, beginning her season with a win in the one-mile group three Prix de Grotte at Longchamp on April 8th and finishing it on November 10^th at Laurel Race Course in Baltimore when she won the twelve-furlong Washington D. C. International over Big Spruce and Scottish Rifle with odds-on favorite Tentam in the beaten field. In between, she won the group one ten-furlong Prix Saint-Alary over Virunga at Longchamp and the group one twelve-furlong Irish Oaks at The Curragh over multiple group one winner Mysterious and another group one winner, Hurry Harriet, which won the Champion Stakes over the great Allez France. Following that, Dahlia won the group one twelve-furlong Queen Elizabeth and King George Stakes by six lengths over an outstanding field, including that year’s Arc de la Triomphe winner Rheingold and Prince of Wales Stakes-winning colt Mysterious. Also included in the beaten field were three major Derby winners: Roberto (1972 Epsom Derby over Rheingold), Hard to Beat (1972 Prix du Jockey Club), and Weaver’s Hall (1973 Irish Derby). Dahlia then finished a badly beaten sixteenth by nineteen lengths to Rheingold in the Arc, her race immediately preceding the Washington D. C. International.

If there was a downer in Dahlia’s career, it was that she was always compared to the great Allez France. They went head-to-head six times, and Allez France, the American-bred daughter of Sea-Bird and out of the American mare Priceless Gem, won all six of their meetings, including three times in 1973 and thrice more in 1974.

Despite her losses to Allez France, 1974 still proved to be an exceptional year for Dahlia. In another long season that began in April in France and culminated in November in North America, she won four more group one races, three of them consecutively. They were the 1 9/16-mile Grand Prix du Saint-Cloud; the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes over two-time group one winner Highclere; and the Benson & Hedges Gold Cup over Imperial Prince, a colt that finished second to Snow Knight in the 1974 Epsom Derby. Traveling to America, Dahlia also won the G1 Man o’ War at Belmont Park by two lengths over Crafty Khale and London Company. She followed that with a win in the then G2 Canadian International Championship over Big Spruce before finishing her year with a third-place finish after a wide trip in the Washington D. C. International to Admetus and the six-time American G1 winning mare Desert Vixen.

Dahlia would make one more trip to North America in 1975, but after twenty-four races against top company, most of them long routes which were often on courses that were not firm, her performances were not as crisp. She ran eleven times that year but won only one of the five group one races that she competed in, that being her second consecutive victory in the Benson & Hedges Gold Cup over Card King and three-time group one winner Star Appeal. In what would be her final race in Europe, she finished fifteenth in the Arc de la Triomphe to Star Appeal, after which she crossed the Atlantic and finished fourth to Snow Knight, the 1974 Epsom Derby winner, in the Canadian International Championship, and eighth by twenty-seven lengths in the Washington D. C. International to group one winner Nobiliary, which that year finished second to Grundy in the Epsom Derby.

Dahlia never returned to Europe. Running exclusively in the United States, she made thirteen starts in 1976 and won only two, a $25,000 allowance over the superior grass horse Caucasus, then defeated that one in the G1 Hollywood Invitational Handicap, a twelve-furlong race in which she stopped the teletimer in 2:26 4/5. That was her final time in the top three as she finished unplaced in her final six races, two of which were on dirt, the G1 Vanity Handicap to Miss Toshiba and the G1 Hollywood Gold Cup to Pay Tribute.

Dahlia had two trainers during her career: Maurice Zilber, who trained her in Europe and also during her first three trips to North America, and Charlie Whittingham, who trained her beginning in 1976.

Some additional facts about Dahlia:

• Dahlia made forty-eight starts and won fifteen in her career, with three seconds and seven third-place finishes.
• Her earnings were $1,543,139, arguably making her the first of her sex with career earnings exceeding a million dollars.
• Of her forty-eight career starts, twenty were at twelve furlongs, two at thirteen furlongs, one at 1-11/16^th miles, and one at 1-9/16 miles.
• Only twelve of her starts were against fillies and/or mares, of which she won three with two of those group ones, the Prix Saint-Alary and the Irish Oaks.
• When Dahlia finished fifteenth of twenty-six in the 1975 Arc de la Triomphe, she was reportedly still suffering the adverse effects when pulling up lame after her close third-place finish in the Prix de Prince-Orange just fourteen days previously.
• In total, Dahlia competed in a whopping thirty-one G1 races and won nine of them, with many of those against the best turf horses racing, included among them victories over nine classic winners. She was also the first horse of either sex to win group one races in five different countries.
• Dahlia was awarded three year-end titles: Horse of the Year in England in 1973 and 1974 and the Eclipse Award for being voted the top grass horse in the United States in 1974.

Dahlia remained in North America when she was retired and, during the next twenty-five years, resided at two different breeding farms. Retrained by Nelson Bunker Hunt after her retirement, she was stationed at Claiborne Farm until 1988, when Mr. Hunt sold off all his stock in a dispersal sale. She was then purchased by Allen Paulson for $1.1 million and was sent to Diamond A Farm in Kentucky. She remained there until her death in 2001 and was buried in the farm cemetery.

Dahlia was bred to many prominent stallions and produced thirteen foals, twelve of which raced with eight of those winners. Foremost among them were millionaires Dahar (Lyphard), a four-time G1 winner of the Prix Lupin, Century Handicap, San Juan Capistrano, and the San Luis Rey; and Rivlia (Riverman), winner of three G1’s, the San Luis Rey, Carleton F. Burke Handicap, and the Hollywood Turf Invitational Handicap. She also produced Dahlia’s Dreamer (Theatrical), winner of the (G1) Flower Bowl Handicap, and Delegant (Grey Dawn II), winner of the G1 San Juan Capistrano.

Dahlia was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1981. She died on April 6th, 2001, at the age of thirty-one.