Phillips Racing Partnership’s homebred WINTER MEMORIES (El Prado [Ire]), who
had conquered the Miss Grillo S. (G3) last fall in her only prior appearance at
Belmont Park, dished out the same peremptory treatment to her overmatched rivals
in Monday’s $150,000
Sands
Point S. (G2). Trained by James Toner and ridden by Jose Lezcano, the 3-5
favorite bolted three lengths clear and stated her case as the nation’s top
three-year-old turf filly.
Unlike in the Miss Grillo, where she lagged well off the pace on the yielding
Widener turf, Winter Memories was close throughout in the Memorial Day feature,
contested on the firm inner turf. The gray took a strong hold while stalking
Arch Support (Arch) and Mystical Star (Ghostzapper) through fractions of :26 and
:51 2/5.
Winter Memories ranged ever closer until the trio raced abreast at the
six-furlong mark in 1:13 1/5. Then the highly-regarded daughter of multiple
Grade 1-winning millionaire Memories of Silver (Silver Hawk) left her rivals
toiling. Accelerating in the blink of an eye, Winter Memories bounded away to
finish 1 1/16 miles in 1:42 3/5, extending her stellar record to 5-4-1-0,
$450,600. The impressive winner furnished mutuels of $3.20, $2.40 and $2.10.
“She just galloped over there,” Lezcano recapped. “I had to go very close to
the pace, but when I asked her, she gave me the same kick she always gives me
and she picked it up very quick. She usually sits back and makes a run, but
today there was no pace in the race, so I had to do what I had to do. This is
the kind of filly you can do whatever you want with, you can keep her close or
you can take her back. Today, with six horses and no pace, I had to put her in
the race.”
“Ordinarily, you don’t want to be that close,” Toner remarked, “but when they
go in :51 you can’t be 10 lengths back. Now that she’s getting racier, she wants
to be more forward. As soon as they started slowing it down, she took him up
there. We discussed the lack of pace beforehand, but I don’t tell Jose what to
do. He knows the filly really well and gets along with her.”
Celestial Kitten (Kitten’s Joy) was best of the rest by three-quarters of a
length. Parting Words (Artie Schiller) checked in third, trailed by Naples Bay
(Giant’s Causeway), Mystical Bay and Arch Support. The main-track-only entrant
Life’s Measure (Chapel Royal) stayed in the barn.
Winter Memories has been favored in all five career starts. The gray signaled
her talent in a smart debut victory at Saratoga last September, and confirmed
that impression still further with a 5 1/4-length tour de force in the October 3
Miss Grillo. Winter Memories was expected to complete the hat trick in the
November 5 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G2), but a troubled trip in
traffic proved to much to overcome, and she settled for runner-up honors.
Her dam, Memories of Silver, captured eight stakes during her three seasons
of racing, including the 1996 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup S. (G1), in a
Keeneland course-record 1:45 4/5 for 1 1/8 grassy miles, and the 1997 Beverly D.
S. (G1). The bay mare also placed in the Matriarch S. (G1), Yellow Ribbon S.
(G1) and Flower Bowl Invitational H. (G1) during her career and bankrolled more
than $1.4 million. Memories of Silver’s first two foals were stakes winners,
British Blue (Storm Cat) and War Trace (Storm Cat), but she didn’t have a
graded-class runner until La Cloche (Ghostzapper) finished second in the Pucker
Up S. (G3) on September 6.
Memories of Silver’s latest progeny are a yearling colt by Bluegrass Cat and
a newborn colt by Tiznow. She is herself a half-sister to Memories (Hail the
Pirates), who captured the first division of the 1988 Miss Grillo S. (G2) when
it was run at Aqueduct; Grade 3-placed stakes winner Memories of Gold (Time for
a Change); and Irish listed-placed Childhood Memories (The Minstrel). Memories
is herself the dam of Group 3 victor Russian Revival (Nureyev) while Childhood
Memories is the granddam of multiple Grade 2 winner Liberian Freighter (Bertrando),
who garnered the Arcadia S. (G2) and Inglewood H. (G3) in April.
Winter Memories’ third dam is Grade 3 queen Java Moon (Graustark), and she
comes from the same line as turf champions Ryafan (Lear Fan) and Sunshine
Forever (Roberto); multiple Grade 1 winner and classic-placed Brian’s Time
(Roberto); and Grade/Group 2 heroes Tillerman (In the Wings [GB]) and Freedom
Crest (To Freedom). Also in this family is Grade 1 victress Andover Way (His
Majesty), best known as the dam of top sire Dynaformer (Roberto).
“Our main goal is the Queen Elizabeth II (at Keeneland in October),” Toner
said. “We’ll figure out the best way to get her there and look at the Lake
George ([G2] on July 27) and Lake Placid ([G2] on August 21) in Saratoga.”