Mendelssohn Filly Registers Second Stakes Victory
Mendelssohn’s Grade III-placed Opus Forty Two (4f Mendelssohn x Laquesta, by Lemon Drop Kid) added a second career stakes victory to her record Saturday with a victory in the Wayward Lass Stakes.
Racing over 1 1/16 miles on the Tampa Bay Downs dirt, the filly was happy to track the leaders for much of the race with jockey Daniel Centeno tucking her up near the rail. The filly stayed on the inner paths until piloted to the outside for the stretch run.
It wasn’t easy going from there with Opus Forty Two having dig in to catch the leader but she did just that down the straight. Getting to the leader late, she started pulling away to win by three-quarters of a length in the end.
Trained by Arnaud Delacour for Mark Grier, she has finished in the top two in eight of 11 starts for $229,550 in earnings and ended last season with a second in a stakes before coming back for this start.
The $185,000 yearling purchase was bred in Kentucky by Rose Hill Farm and John Trumbulovic out of two-time winner Laquesta. That mare is the dam of two foals from two to race with her other being Munnings’ two-time winning juvenile Balta. Laquesta is a half-sister to Grade III-placed Glacial and out of a daughter of Pretty ‘n Smart.
The matriarch of a successful family, Pretty ‘n Smart produced Grade I winner Cupid and Grade III winners Heart Ashley and Ashley’s Kitty with multiple daughters and granddaughters also producing stakes horses.
Mendelssohn is the sire of seven winners so far this season, 10th best of all Kentucky sires and second best among all third-crop sires in 2024.