Winter Memories Euthanized in Spring at Age 15

Winter Memories , a dual grade 1 winner for Phillips Racing Partnership and a stakes producer, died earlier this year at age 15. She was euthanized May 16 due to troubled hind leg suspensory ligaments that made standing and walking painful, Darby Dan Farm owner John Phillips said.

A gray daughter of El Prado, the Jimmy Toner-trained Winter Memories was a millionaire on the racetrack, like her dam, the late Silver Hawk mare Memories of Silver , who raced for Joan and John Phillips and was also trained by Toner. Winter Memories' top-level triumphs came in the 2011 Garden City Stakes (G1T) and the 2012 Diana Stakes (G1T). A winner of eight of 12 starts, she also placed in the 2012 Just a Game Stakes (G1T) and the 2010 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G2T).

There is a stakes race for 3-year-old fillies in New York named in Winter Memories' honor—won this year by Sacred Wish .

Phillips said Winter Memories and Memories of Silver, the latter produced from the Darby Dan Farm-campaigned All My Memories, were treasured by him and all the farm. Memories of Silver was born within weeks of the death of Phillips' father, Wally, and Winter Memories was born April 24, 2008, the day his mother, Jody, was buried.

"It was a sad passing," Phillips said of Winter Memories. "That family has been in my family for three generations of horses, for three generations of family members."

Beyond their skill on the racetrack, Winter Memories and Memories of Silver, who died in 2017, had a likability, Phillips said.

"They were really happy, very unique in the sense that you couldn't believe how kind and gentle they were, particularly around my kids," he said. "And yet you put them in the paddock when it was game time, and oh my gosh, they'd puff up and be ready to do battle."

He marveled at the acceleration shown by Winter Memories when she quickened from behind a wall of horses in the final furlong to win the Garden City Stakes as a 3-year-old.

As a broodmare, Winter Memories produced eight foals, six of whom have started. Her two black-type runners are both by Tapit  — Winter Sunset , a stakes winner who placed in three graded stakes, and the graded stakes-placed Seasons , whose best performances came in Canada when second in the 2021 Ontario Colleen Stakes (G3T) and third in the 2020 Natalma Stakes (G1T). Phillips Racing Partnership still retains both with separate partners.

Winter Memories' youngest foal is a Mendelssohn   yearling filly, who Phillips said will be kept for racing and breeding. She is being broken in Florida.

"We'll never sell her," he said.