The morning after her impressive Lake George (G2) score, WINTER MEMORIES (El
Prado [Ire]) grazed and relaxed in her stall while trainer Jimmy Toner, who
trained the filly’s dam, Memories of Silver, to a win in the same race nearly 15
years ago, further reflected on the differences between the dam and her
offspring.
“Her mother was smaller and she was fearless,” Toner said. “You could put her
anywhere, she’d go through anything, she’d run through a wall.
“(In the 1996 Lake George) she was sitting behind two horses, and when she
got to the horses, (jockey Jerry Bailey) didn’t want to go outside, and there
was no room inside. She pushed herself through the horses.
“Once she got through, she spurted clear and opened up to win by a couple of
lengths. That kind of thing, you attribute to the mother.
“Winter Memories, she’s kind of a big, long striding, rangy kind of a horse
that you wouldn’t consider being that athletic,” Toner continued.
“They did it different ways, but she was impressive in what she did, and how
she did it yesterday. I think her mother (had) an athletic way of doing it, just
bullying her way through, but they both got the job done.
“For a horse to win and then have her daughter to win the same race, that’s
pretty neat.”
Toner confirmed that if all continues to go according to plan, Winter
Memories would run back in the 1 1/8-mile Lake Placid (G2) on August 21.
“She has a presence about her,” Toner said of Winter Memories “She knows who
she is, and it’s a pleasure to be around her.”