Op/Ed: Have American-Based Turf Horses Caught Up?

The Europeans arrived in full force for last Saturday's races at Arlington Park, bringing a talented contingent that looked better on paper than anything they had brought over to run in the GI Arlington Million, the GI Secretariat and the GI Beverly D. in years. Based on what we have come to expect, that Europeans can come here and win our biggest grass races with second and third-string horses, it looked it could be a rough day for the Yanks.

As it turned out, Team America left Chicago with a clean sweep as American-based horses won all three Grade I events. Was it just a good run of luck or has the tide shifted with our grass horses now close to being on par with theirs? Call me a homer if you will, but I believe it is the latter.

You should have seen what happened at Arlington coming. One reason is that turf racing in North America is booming, whether it's within the stakes ranks or at the lowest levels of the sport. There are more grass races than ever, Aqueduct and Woodbine are both adding second turf courses and it's hard to find a card at places like Gulfstream, Laurel and Saratoga where at least half the races aren't on the grass. Fasig-Tipton has jumped on the bandwagon and later this year will offer the first-ever yearling sale specializing in turf runners. With so many opportunities out there for grass horses, North Americans are no longer shying away from turf stallions like they used to. Just look at Kitten's Joy. The majority of the buyers at the sales are still hoping they just bought a future GI Kentucky Derby winner, but there are plenty now who are looking for a future grass star.

The other reason? Chad Brown.

While he has proven that he's more than a one-trick pony who can only win grass races, Brown remains one of the very the best turf trainers this country has ever seen, on par, if not better, than Charlie Whittingham. Brown's barn is so loaded with talented and classy grass runners that perhaps the only trainer in the world he has to take a back seat to when it comes to that category is Aidan O'Brien. Brown won the Beverly D. with Dacita (Chi) (Scat Daddy), capturing the race for the third-straight year and the fourth time overall. He then won the Million with Beach Patrol (Lemon Drop Kid). It was his second Million win. Brown gave someone else a chance in the Secretariat as he did not have a starter in that race.

It is true that European stables normally bring their very best horses here only for the Breeders' Cup races, which you must take into account when assessing what happened at Arlington. But they didn't exactly bring their stable ponies to Arlington Heights, Illinois, either.

The Secretariat included starters from the stables of Jean-Claude Rouget, Aidan O'Brien and Mark Johnston. The best of that trio appeared to be Permian (Ire) (Teofilio {Ire}), who was coming off a nose loss in the G1 Juddmonte Grand Prix de Paris. Tragically, he suffered a fatal injury. The race was won by the terrific American 3-year-old Oscar Performance (Kitten's Joy).

Dacita had to beat a very good horse from the Aidan O'Brien barn in the 3-year-old filly Rain Goddess (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}). She was coming off a second-place finish in the G1 Darley Irish Oaks, which was won by Enable (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire]). That's the same Enable that subsequently came back to beat older males in the G1 King George VI & Queen Elizabeth S. There was also a German horses in the field in Sarandia (Ger) (Dansili {GB}).

In the Million, Brown and Beach Patrol conquered, among others, the O'Brien-trained Deauville (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), who was third in last year's Million and won the 2016 GI Belmont Derby. There was also French shipper Mekhtaal (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}), a Group 1 winner.

And it just wasn't one afternoon at Arlington Park.

The list of North American grass races most likely to attract European starters starts and begins with the following: Beverly D., Secretariat, Arlington Million, GI Breeders' Cup Turf, GI Breeders' Cup Mile, GI Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf, GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf, GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, GI Woodbine Mile, GI Canadian International, GI E. P. Taylor, GI Belmont Oaks and Belmont Derby. That's 13 races. In the most recent runnings of those events, North American-based horses have won 10. Four of those wins came out of the Chad Brown barn.

It's not just happening in the U.S. and in Canada. Wesley Ward has been a one-trainer wrecking crew at Royal Ascot and Tepin (Bernstein) also did the U.S. proud when winning the G1 Queen Anne S. last year.

Perhaps Godolphin, Coolmore and the other major stables in Europe will come over and win everything at the Breeders' Cup. There was a time when that was a distinct possibility. Looks like those times have changed.