Char Turf

There was a time, not so long ago, when one could find Arabian horses who resembled in phenotype, Char Turf, who incidentally, was born this day, sixty-one years ago! I am reminded of a quotation once made by fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld,

"I love classic beauty. It's an idea of beauty with no standard." 

Char Turf reminds us of the authentic and honest beauty that nature, in her infinite wisdom, designed for the Arab horse, in order for the horse  to survive and prosper within a harsh and unforgiving desert climate. Among breed enthusiasts, it is this functional beauty that inspires and encourages us in our love for the breed. 

Char Turf was a son of  Fa-Turf (*Fadl x *Turfa) and out of Habbana, an Ibn Fadl daughter bred by Henry Babson and purchased by Dr. Keith Krausnick of Shar-Char Farm, who bred Char Turf. Just as a point of clarification, Char Turf is not straight Egyptian. He is considered Egyptian-Sa'ud. 

What I found interesting about Char Turf is the concentrated line breeding to *Fadl (Ibn Rabdan x Mahroussa) and, *Turfa. *Fadl appears four times in the pedigree, as a paternal grandsire, a maternal great-grandsire and twice maternal great-great grandsire, representing 50% of the pedigree, which explains the strong and solid, circular, balanced phenotype that Ibn Rabdan (Rabdan El Azrak x Bint Gamila) is known for passing. Incidentally, through his son, *Fadl, Ibn Rabdan's influence in the pedigree is at 25%. In combination with the 2 lines to *Turfa (as a paternal grandam and maternal great grandam), I am compelled to point out to you dear reader that Fa-Turf and Ibn Fadl are full brothers! And *Turfa, as compared to *Fadl,  represents a slightly smaller percentage of influence, at 37.5%. The only other horses in the pedigree who don't carry  a blood connection to either *Fadl or *Turfa, are the Babson imports *Bint Serra I (Sotamm x Serra) and *Bint Bint Sabbah (Baiyad x Bint Sabah), each mare contributing 6.25% of their genetic influence. 

*Turfa’s legacy was felt more strongly through Ibn Fadl’s daughters, highly esteemed broodmares and outstanding producers, like Habbana. In addition to Char Turf, Habbana also produced Sirbana by Sirecho and the full siblings by Negem (Fa-Serr x Fay-Negma): Shar Bana, Shar Anna and Char Mabrouk. FYI, at Shar-Char Farm, the fillies were named with the prefix, "Shar", while the colts were named with the prefix, "Char". 

Of all the horses (outside of the Egyptian imports) that Henry Babson would add to the breeding program, only to quickly disperse later; *Turfa not only produced similarly to the Babson Egyptian horses but her influence lasted longer than the other non-Egyptian horses, creating a parallel breeding program forever known as Babson-Turfa.  Homer Watson would later express regret over the dispersal of the Turfa horses. I can't think of a stronger endorsement of *Turfa. Well, on second thought, maybe the horses themselves would be the only endorsement a horse lover would need.

Char Turf was sold by the Krausnicks to Marian and Jess Machado, together with Frank Kosek in California. While he sired a small number of registered purebreds, unfortunately, he did not sire any get within the Babson-Turfa breeding group.

***This blog was originally published November 2021***