A 1946 photo of *Sawannah’s Bahraini owner

A September 1975 letter by the late Danah Aal Khalifa in response to a photo sent to her by Lee Oellerich identified the chestnut mare *Sawannah, born in 1948, and later imported to the USA, as follows:

“The mare Sawannah pictured above was identified by Fatis, the old studmaster of H.H. Shaikh Issa bin Salman Al Khalifa, as a Dahmah, belonging to Shaykh Khalifa bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, (chief of Police). Dahmeh was bred by Shaykh Salman, Ruler of Bahrain at the time, out of one of his mares of the Dahman strain, and sired by one of his stud stallions serving at the time.”

The Facebook page “The Old Bahrain” recently posted the below photo of this Sheikh, initially published in 1946 edition of National Geographic Magazine. The photo has this caption:

1946: “The American-educated Chief of Police at Manama – Bahrein’s turbaned police are under the direction of Sheik Khalifa bin Mohammed al Khalifa. Educated at the American University of Beirut, he breeds Arabian horses and gets exercise by cultivating his fertile garden set in coral sand.”