Pink Hue a ‘Rising Star’ for Mendelssohn

Pink Hue (2f Mendelssohn x Involved, by Speightstown) kept Mendelssohn’s summer of winners going strong on Sunday with a 2 ¾ length debut victory in a Saratoga Maiden Special Weight to earn Thoroughbred Daily News Rising Star honors.

Trained by Chad Brown for e Five Racing, Pink Hue was one of the first out of the gate in the 1 1/16 mile turf race before taking back to race a few lengths off the leader in fourth. Jockey Flavien Prat kept the filly in contention down the backstretch and had her perfectly positioned going into the stretch to make her run.

Pink Hue made her win look easy, her big strides propelling her past the leader just inside the final furlong before running away from there. The filly’s 2 ¾ length margin was deceivingly small with Pink Hue having much more in reserve if needed. Mendelssohn’s second runner in the race, race favorite Delight, finished third.

Bred by Betz, Davidson, C. Kidder, and CoCo Equine, Pink Hue was a $310,000 yearling purchase at last year’s Keeneland September Sale by Mike Ryan from Betz Thoroughbreds.

The filly is a half-sister to Grade III winner Man of Promise and four other winners out of a half-sister to multiple graded stakes winner Skip to the Stone and stakes winner My Heavenly Sign. Pink Hue’s fourth dam is the great racemare The Very One.

Mendelssohn now has seven winners with five of those coming in the past week and a half, including two at Saratoga.