Persian War (horse)  Persian War (1963–1984) was a British National Hunt horse and a three-time winner of the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham. He is considered by many to have been the greatest hurdler of all time. He won the Triumph Hurdle in 1967, before progressing to dominate the hurdling ranks for the next three years, including winning the Champion Hurdle three times, until the emergence of dual Champion Hurdle winner Bula. He was rated as the best hurdler since Sir Ken in the 1950s, and described as “the ultimate champion” by trainer Colin Davis, and is considered to have heralded ‘a golden age’ of two mile hurdling that saw outstanding champions Bula, Comedy Of Errors, Night Nurse, Monksfield and Sea Pigeon. However, many observers felt that Persian War could have accomplished even more if not for the interference of his owner Henry Alper, who employed six trainers to prepare the horse during his career and often targeted unsuitable races. Persian War was bred by Astor Studs, and was a big bay gelding. His sire, Persian Gulf, was a son of Triple Crown winner Bahram and had won the Coronation Cup in 1944. His dam, Warning, was a big boned daughter of champion sire Chanteur (also the winner of the Coronation Cup), and had produced Escort, who finished fourth in the Derby. Persian War did not display a lot of promise as a young horse in Dick Hern’s care, so Astor Studs had him gelded to try to bring about improvement. Under Tom Masson’s guidance, he won two flat staying races at Salisbury and Wolverhampton as a three-year-old but was clearly destined to race over hurdles. He was sold to David Naylor-Leyland for £3000. Persian War made his hurdling debut in October in a two-mile race at Ascot, where he finished second to Capablanca. He improved markedly in his next start, where he won the Toll House Juvenile Hurdle at Sandown by fifteen lengths from Major Imp, before romping by the same margin in the Freshmans Hurdle at Newbury. He returned to Newbury at the end of December for an eight-length win in the Kintbury Hurdle. It was this race that brought Persian War to the attention of Henry Alper, who immediately purchased him for £9,000 and relocated him to Brian Swift’s yard at Epsom.