American Pharoah runners finding winner's circle on turf
Triple Crown winner American Pharoah never started on turf during his racing career, but has been a standout on that surface early in his stud career. Sweet Melania won a maiden special weight on the Saratoga turf Sunday, becoming American Pharoah’s fifth winner, with all of those runners scoring turf victories.
Sweet Melania, who had been third in her two previous starts, which came sprinting on dirt, successfully stretched out to 1 1/16 miles on turf to win her maiden. The filly, who is out of stakes winner Sweet N Discreet, was a $600,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase by Robert and Lawana Low, and is trained by Todd Pletcher.
American Pharoah’s son Maven won his debut on dirt at Aqueduct before taking the Group 3 Prix du Bois on turf in France. The stallion’s other two European maiden winners, Monarch of Egypt and Saqqara King, are now Group 2-placed and stakes placed, respectively. As distances for juvenile races have begun to lengthen in the United States, American Pharoah’s progeny have, as expected, continued to succeed. Envied won a one-mile maiden race on the Ellis turf before Sweet Melania also found success around two turns.
American Pharoah made his first two starts on the synthetic surface at Del Mar in 2014, including his maiden win in the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity. The 2015 Horse of the Year, he spent the rest of his career racing on dirt and is among the standouts for the Unbridled sireline, known for classic-distance successes on dirt. However, American Pharoah’s sire, Pioneerof the Nile, and grandsire, Empire Maker, have had multi-surface success, perhaps helping American Pharoah to come by some versatility as a sire. The late Pioneerof the Nile was a maiden winner on turf, a multiple Grade 1 winner on synthetic, and classic-placed on dirt. His top runners include the versatile Midnight Storm, a Grade 1 winner on turf and graded winner on dirt. Belmont Stakes winner Empire Maker is the sire of Emollient, a multiple Grade 1 winner on both turf and synthetic, and Acoma and Mushka, both Grade 1 winners on synthetic who were graded winners on turf.