imported>Stylteralmaldo: /* Pedigree */ add verbiage.

2025-06-26T14:13:36Z

Pedigree: add verbiage.

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{{Short description|American-bred Thoroughbred racehorse}}

{{Infobox racehorse
| horsename = Count Turf
| image =
| caption =
| sire = [[Count Fleet]]
| grandsire = [[Reigh Count]]
| dam = Delmarie
| damsire = [[Pompey (horse)|Pompey]]
| sex = [[Stallion (horse)|Stallion]]
| foaled = 1948
| country = [[United States]]
| colour = [[Bay (horse)|Bay]]
| breeder = Dr. & Mrs. Frank Porter Miller
| owner = [[Jack J. Amiel|Jack Joseph Amiel]]
| trainer = 1) [[Sol Rutchick]]<br /> 2) [[William B. Finnegan]]
| record = 45: 8-4-6
| earnings = $166,375
| race = [[Dover Stakes]] (1950)<br />[[Questionnaire Handicap]] (1953){{pb}}'''[[United States Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing|U.S. Triple Crown]] wins:'''<br/> [[Kentucky Derby]] (1951)
| awards=
| honours = Count Turf Drive, [[Louisville, Kentucky]]
| updated= May 27, 2010
}}
'''Count Turf''' (April 27, 1948 – October 18, 1966) was a champion American [[Thoroughbred]] [[horse racing|racehorse]] who won the [[1951 Kentucky Derby]]. His grandsire [[Reigh Count]] won the [[1928 Kentucky Derby]] and his sire [[Count Fleet]] won the [[1943 Kentucky Derby]] and went on to win the [[Triple Crown of Thoroughbred Racing|Triple Crown]]. The only other father/son/grandson combination to win the Kentucky Derby was [[Pensive]], [[Ponder (horse)|Ponder]], and [[Needles (horse)|Needles]].

==Background==
Bred and raised at [[Runnymede Farm]] near [[Paris, Kentucky]], Count Turf was owned by [[New York City]] [[restaurant|restaurateur]] Jack Amiel who bought him at a yearling sale for $3,700. Amiel named him Count for his [[Father|sire]] and Turf for his Turf Restaurant in [[Times Square]]. In the mid-1950s, Amiel dispensed with his ownership of the Turf Restaurant and became a co-owner of next-door's [[Jack Dempsey's Broadway Restaurant]].

==Racing career==
Racing at age two, Count Turf's best showings were second-place finishes in both the [[Youthful Stakes]] and the [[Christiana Stakes]]. Wintered in [[Florida]], at age three he showed little promise in the races leading up to the 1951 Kentucky Derby. Conditioned by [[Turkey|Turkish-born]] [[horse trainer|trainer]] [[Sol Rutchick]], the colt finished off the board in the [[Flamingo Stakes|Flamingo]] and [[Everglades Stakes]] in Florida and in the [[Wood Memorial Stakes]] at [[Aqueduct Racetrack]] in [[Jamaica, New York]].

In the 1951 Kentucky Derby, Count Turf was one of twenty horses entered. [[Harry Frank Guggenheim|Harry Guggenheim's]] colt Battle Morn was the [[gambling|betting]] favorite with [[Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney|Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney's]] eventual [[Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year|Horse of the Year]] [[Counterpoint (horse)|Counterpoint]], the second choice. Counterpoint was Count Turf's half-brother through their common sire, Count Fleet. Given almost no chance of winning, Count Turf was part of a five-horse betting "field" with long-shot odds of 15–1. In the race, he was well placed in the front-middle of the pack and after taking the lead at the top of the homestretch he never looked back and won by four lengths over an over 53-1 long shot named Royal Mustang.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090114104441/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,935267,00.html "Seeing Is Believing"]. ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]''. May 14, 1951.</ref> Favorite Battle Morn never was in contention and finished 6th while Counterpoint tired badly after making a run at the leaders and wound up 11th. For future [[National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame|U.S. Hall of Hame]] [[jockey]] [[Conn McCreary]], it was his second Derby victory, having won the 1944 race aboard [[Pensive]].

For the ensuing two legs of the Triple Crown series, Count Turf did not run in [[Preakness Stakes]] but then finished seventh in the [[Belmont Stakes]], twenty lengths back of winner Counterpoint. In October 1951, Count Turf was sent to race in [[California]] under the care of trainer [[William B. Finnegan|Bill Finnegan]].
<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20121102095541/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/latimes/access/425349541.html?dids=425349541:425349541&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Oct+19,+1951&author=&pub=Los+Angeles+Times&desc=Bill+Finnegan+Named+Trainer+of+Count+Turf&pqatl=google "Bill Finnegan Named Trainer of Count Turf"]. ''[[Los Angeles Times]]''. October 19, 1951.</ref> Racing at age four and five, he met with limited success, his most notable performance a win in the 1953 [[Questionnaire Handicap]] at [[Jamaica Race Course]] but he came out of the race lame and was retired.<ref>[https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=geUrAAAAIBAJ&sjid=xmUFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3024,5129503&dq=questionnaire+handicap+count-turf&hl=en ''Kentucky New Era'' - July 20, 1953]</ref>

==Stud career==
At [[horse breeding|stud]], Count Turf stood at Almahurst Farm in [[Nicholasville, Kentucky]], then at Elmhurst Farm near [[Lexington, Kentucky|Lexington]], and finally at Windy Hills Farm in [[Westminster, Maryland]]. As a sire, his accomplishments were modest, producing only two stakes race winners. One of those was [[Manassa Mauler (horse)|Manassa Mauler]], so-named by Jack Amiel for the widely known pugilistic [[nickname]] of his friend [[Jack Dempsey]].

Count Turf died in 1966 and is buried at Windy Hills Farm.

==Pedigree==
{{Pedigree
|name = Count Turf
|f = [[Count Fleet]]
|m = Delmarie
|ff = [[Reigh Count]]
|fm = Quickly
|mf = [[Pompey (horse)|Pompey]]
|mm = Charming Note
|fff = [[Sunreigh]]
|ffm = Contessina
|fmf = Haste
|fmm = Stephanie
|mff = [[Sun Briar]]
|mfm = [[Cleopatra (horse)|Cleopatra]]
|mmf = Polymelian
|mmm = Alburn
|ffff = '''[[Sundridge (horse)|Sundridge]]*'''
|fffm = '''[[Sweet Briar (horse)|Sweet Briar]]*'''
|ffmf = Count Schomberg
|ffmm = Pitti
|fmff = Maintenant
|fmfm = Miss Malaprop
|fmmf = [[Stefan The Great]]
|fmmm = Malachite
|mfff = '''Sundridge*'''
|mffm = '''Sweet Briar*'''
|mfmf = '''[[Corcyra (horse)|Corcyra]]*'''
|mfmm = Gallice
|mmff = [[Polymelus]]
|mmfm = '''Pasquita*'''
|mmmf = Alcantara
|mmmm = Face A Main
|}}

{{asterisk}} Count Turf is [[inbreeding|inbred]] 4S x 4D x 5D to the stallion [[Sundridge (horse)|Sundridge]], meaning that he appears fourth generation on the sire side of his pedigree and fourth generation and fifth generation (via Pasquita) on the dam side of his pedigree.

{{asterisk}} Count Turf is inbred 4S x 4D to the mare [[Sweet Briar (horse)|Sweet Briar]], meaning that she appears fourth generation on the sire side of his pedigree and fourth generation on the dam side of his pedigree.

{{asterisk}} Count Turf is inbred 5D x 4D to the stallion [[Polymelus]], meaning that he appears fifth generation (via [[Corcyra (horse)|Corcyra]]) and fourth generation on the dam side of his pedigree.

==References==
* [http://www.kentuckyderby.com/2006/derby_history/derby_charts/years/1951.html Count Turf's Kentucky Derby]
* [http://colinsghost.org/2010/03/count-turf-wins-the-kentucky-derby-1951.html Count Turf Wins the Kentucky Derby, 1951]
{{Reflist}}

{{Kentucky Derby Winners}}

[[Category:1948 racehorse births]]
[[Category:1966 racehorse deaths]]
[[Category:Racehorses bred in Kentucky]]
[[Category:Racehorses trained in the United States]]
[[Category:Kentucky Derby winners]]
[[Category:Thoroughbred family 22-b]]

Count Turf - Revision history

imported>Stylteralmaldo: /* Pedigree */ add verbiage.