While America has long celebrated its dirt tradition in thoroughbred racing, the truth is that there’s a lot of great turf racing in this county, and if you watch enough of it, you know that turf races are usually run in a very different manner from dirt races. Notwithstanding turf sprints (and the anomalous front-running speedster Presious Passion), turf racing typically places far less emphasis on blazing early speed, with more concern for position and pace, usually with a dramatic late rush to the wire. Whether due to training methods, physiology or inherent genetic material, turf horses are unique.

Obviously those horses that excelled on turf themselves appear to produce similar offspring—but not just through the sire. Oftentimes it’s just as important to consider the dam and her bloodline. So, who are the important turf sires to know, and which dirt runners have crossed well with strong turf pedigree mares to produce solid runners on grass?

The 10 top American turf sires to know (and why):

1. Giant’s Causeway (Storm Cat out of Mariah’s Storm, by Rahy)
2. Dynaformer (Roberto out of Andover Way, by His Majesty)

The two that immediately leap to mind are Giant’s Causeway and Dynaformer. The former won six Group 1 turf races in Europe before coming within a neck of winning the 2000 Breeders’ Cup Classic on dirt over Tiznow. The latter actually wasn’t superlative as a racehorse, although he did finish third in the 1989 Grade 2 Dixie Handicap on turf. Both have produced some seriously good dirt runners—Eskendereya and Barbaro, respectively. Yet their progeny have excelled on turf, especially over longer distances. Giant’s Causeway’s American Grade 1 winners include Aragorn, My Typhoon, Red Giant and Internallyflawless, while Dynaformer can boast of Film Maker, Riskaverse, Gozzip Girl and Dynaforce. In addition to perennially topping the turf sires list, both Giant’s Causeway and Dynaformer share something else: a common ancestor, 1972 Epsom (English) Derby winner Roberto, whose presence in any pedigree is a strong stamina indicator—thus, Giant’s Causeway and Dynaformer progeny on grass usually do best running long.

3. Langfuhr (Danzig out of Sweet Briar Too, by Briartic)
4. El Prado (Sadler’s Wells out of Lady Capulet, by Sir Ivor) died in 2009

These two sprinter/milers have had good success producing stamina-rich offspring, as well as horses that run on all three surfaces: dirt, all-weather and turf. Langfuhr has produced Grade 1 turf winners Wando, Jambalaya, Lang Field and Interpatation, as well as turf queens Sabellina and The Niagara Queen, while El Prado (who also sired Rachel Alexandra’s sire Medaglia d’Oro) counts among his offspring Grade 1 turf winners (now sires) Artie Schiller and Kitten’s Joy. What Langfuhr and El Prado also share: both are by sons of the great Northern Dancer, whose tremendous impact on turf pedigrees we’ll explore in a later post.

5. Smart Strike (Mr. Prospector out of Classy ‘N Smart, by Smarten)
6. City Zip (Carson City out of Baby Zip, by Relaunch)

Both Smart Strike and City Zip were dirt runners who just happen to produce marvelous grass horses when bred to mares with strong turf inclinations. For example, in addition to siring dirt champion Curlin, Smart Strike is the sire of champion turf male English Channel. English Channel’s damsire is the champion turf male Theatrical and his second dam Committed was a turf champion in her own right, having twice won the prestigious French Group 1 Prix de l’Abbaye. By Theatrical, Committed also produced two American graded stakes winners on turf, Pharma and Hap, so there was strong indication that their full sister Belva could produce a good turf runner (and she did in English Channel). Interestingly as well, Smart Strike’s dam Classy ‘n Smart also birthed (by sneaky-good turf sire Danzig) Canadian Triple Crown victress and Hall of Famer Dance Smartly who, among her turf wins, captured the 1991 Molson Export Million (now Woodbine Mile), so maybe there’s some genetic turf material inherent in Smart Strike.

Like his sire Carson City (another sneaky-good turf producer), City Zip was a dirt sprinter, yet his top earners are turfsters. At age six, Get Serious recently added the Grade 3 Monmouth Stakes to his resume, while 5-year-old Acting Zippy won the Grade 3 John B. Connally Turf Cup in 2010. His daughter Unzip Me impressively wired the Grade 3 Las Cienegas field over the downhill turf course at Santa Anita in April. Always watch for City Zip’s progeny on turf, especially sprinting (and particularly with New York-based trainer Linda Rice). Recently, three daughters of City Zip—Zip by You, Gitchee Goomie and Spirit of Rose—fleshed out the trifecta in a six-furlong turf allowance race at Belmont Park.

It should be noted that City Zip’s dam Baby Zip also produced (via Northern Dancer sireline descendant Awesome Again) the champion dirt horse Ghostzapper, whose first crop included turf (and Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes) winner Stately Victor (his Dynaformer dam Collect the Cash won the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Invitational on turf). Thus, Ghostzapper offspring may also excel on turf, if bred to a turf-rich mare.

7. Stormy Atlantic (Storm Cat out of Hail Atlantis, by Seattle Slew)
8. Tale of the Cat (Storm Cat out of Yarn, by Mr. Prospector)

Both sons of Storm Cat, these two have their fair share of turf runners, including turf veteran Icy Atlantic, Grade 1-placed My Princess Jess, and upcoming turf star Get Stormy (whose damsire Kiri’s Clown won the grassy Grade 1 Sword Dancer) for Stormy Atlantic, while Tale of the Cat’s top American turfster is 2009 dual-Eclipse winner Gio Ponti. Other sons of Storm Cat who are good at producing turf performers include lightly raced Bernstein (Storm Cat out of La Affirmed, by Affirmed) and Catienus (Storm Cat out of Diamond City, by Mr. Prospector). And don’t forget Hennessy (Storm Cat out of Island Kitty, by Hawaii) who, before he died in 2007, produced multiple-graded turf stakes winner Silver Tree, as well as 2001 European champion 2-year-old Johannesburg, sire of such turf performers as Grade 1-placed Phola and Grade 2-placed Marcavelly.

9. Rahy (Blushing Groom out of Glorious Song, by Halo) pensioned in 2009
10. War Chant (Danzig out of Hollywood Wildcat, by Kris S.)

Not only do these two possess strong turf pedigrees from their sires, but their extraordinarily talented dams have produced other top grass performers. By European champion turf horse Blushing Groom, Rahy’s progeny include Breeders’ Cup Turf champion Fantastic Light and Grade 1 Manhattan victor Dancing Forever, but he’s particularly made his mark as a broodmare sire of such turf stars as Rahy’s Attorney. His Canadian and American champion dam Glorious Song also birthed champion grass horse Singspiel, sire of such Group 1 winners as Dar Re Mi, Lahudood, Eastern Anthem, and Folk Opera.

Breeders’ Cup Turf Mile-winning War Chant has produced some nice turf stakes winners, such as Chamberlain Bridge, Chattahoochee War, War Monger and Brilliant, as well as Sea Chanter, El Roblar, and Ballymore Lady. He’s out of multiple-Grade 1 (Breeders’ Cup Distaff et al.) champion Hollywood Wildcat, whose sire Kris S. (by Roberto) also produced the multiple-Grade 1 turf winner Prized—sire of turf performer Brass Hat, among others. Hollywood Wildcat also birthed Grade 1 Secretariat runner-up Ivan Denisovich, a three-quarter brother to War Chant.

Up-and-Coming Turf Sires
Who are the young sires to watch for on turf? Obviously, sons of Giant’s Causeway, such as Shamardal, Aragorn and perhaps First Samurai, should be considered. Out of a full sister to Grade 1 Dubai World Cup winner and proven turf sire Street Cry, Shamardal already has dual-Group 1 winners in France (Loup de Vega) and in Australia (Faint Perfume). Their impact this year looks to be tremendous.

Smarty Jones is another sire whose offspring could end up performing well on turf. His sire Elusive Quality has produced excellent turf runners, such as Raven’s Pass. His second dam is by Foolish Pleasure, who has excelled as a damsire of turf runners; his son Scenic has produced Group 1 sprinters, middle distance runners and extreme stayers, including Melbourne Cup winner Viewed. His third dam is by the terrific turf sire Herbager, so with the proper cross, Smarty Jones’ progeny on turf are to be watched.

For 2011, many fans eagerly await the progeny of gutsy Hard Spun who never ran on turf but who was beautifully bred for it, being by Danzig out of the Turkoman mare Turkish Tryst—with Roberto as her damsire, it’s not surprising that Turkish Tryst’s best races were on grass, including a win in the 12-furlong April Run Stakes at Pimlico while three months pregnant with her first foal, a filly by Belong to Me.

And What About Soft Turf?
American turf horses rarely run on grass listed as worse than “yielding” (softened by rain). Why? Most tracks are not equipped with proper drainage systems in their turf courses, thus if heavy rains saturate the ground, those races are usually taken off the turf and run on dirt (inevitably resulting in plenty of scratches). This is not the case in countries that run primarily on turf, and while their statistics may or may not hold true in the United States, it’s worth noting which American turf sires have performed well on wet turf courses abroad.

Thus, if there’s a little give to the grass, horses sired by the following may be inclined to perform well (obviously you should consider the result of any previous race too):

Belong to Me
Danzig
Dynaformer
Elusive Quality
Freud
Giant’s Causeway
Kitten’s Joy
More Than Ready
Sky Classic
Smart Strike
Street Cry
War Chant