Mendelssohn Filly Wins Tasmanian Guineas

It was an Australian stakes winner for Mendelssohn in Australia on Friday when Wings of Song (3f Mendelssohn x Tortoni, by Strategic) won the Tasmanian Guineas.

The Patrick Payne-trained filly was looking for her second straight victory in the one-mile turf race but kept her backers in suspense until midstretch. It was at that point that she took over from the leader and it didn’t take long before she had the lead all to herself with a 1 ½ length margin between herself and the second placed runner at the line for her third career victory.

Racing for her breeders, Sandy Tait and Jill Nivison, Wings of Song is one of five winners from five to race out of Tortoni. That mare is also the dam of Group II winner and Group I-placed Cherry Tortoni and Churchill’s stakes placed Jenny Jerome. Tortoni is a half-sister to multiple champion and 13-time Group I winner Tie The Knot and stakes winners Hood and Dream Ballad.

Tortoni had a filly from St Mark’s Basilica’s first Australian crop last year and is in foal to Churchill for a full sibling to Jenny Jerome.

In the Northern Hemisphere, Mendelssohn had the most winners of any third-crop sire with 103 winners last year, led by four stakes winners and 17 stakes performers.

Mendelssohn’s 116 winners from his first two Northern Hemisphere crops also leads all sires in his generation with six stakes winners and 20 stakes performers overall.