Following the German occupation of France during World War II, the Aga Khan fled France to the safety of Switzerland, and in September 1940, sold Bahram for £40,000 to an American syndicate made up of Walter P. Chrysler Jr., Alfred G. Vanderbilt II, James Cox Brady, Jr. and Sylvester Labrot, Jr. In 1941, the horse was brought to Vanderbilt's Sagamore Stud in Maryland then to Walter Chrysler Jr.'s North Wales Stud in Warrenton, Virginia. However, there was considerable resentment amongst British breeders against the Aga Khan for selling to overseas buyers all five of his Derby winners, particularly the three from the Blandford line, Bahram, Blenheim and Blenheim's son, Mahmoud. All of them were considered a severe loss to British breeding stock.