Leopardstown Group win for Wendla

Wendla, a three-year-old daughter of Champion Intercontinental, gave a front running performance in the Gr.3 Cornelscourt Stakes at Leopardstown yesterday to win her first Group-level race.

Taken from the Thoroughbred Daily News, 13th May 2024, by Tom Frary:

Bouncing back from an unplaced finish in the seven-furlong Gr.3 Priory Belle Stakes at Leopardstown last month, Juddmonte's illustriously-bred Wendla (by Ulysses) benefitted from a masterclass from Colin Keane to cause a minor upset back at that venue in Sunday's Gr.3 Cornelscourt Stakes. Always at the fore with the pace modest, the Ger Lyons-trained daughter of the operation's high-class Breeders' Cup Filly & Mare Turf heroine led the sprint for home in the mile test and had enough in hand to hold on by three-quarters of a length from Buttons (Kingman).

"She's a lovely honest filly. The ground comes all the same to her, she's handled heavy and she handled that," Lyons said of the winner, who returned a 7-1 starting price and emulated the win of the Juddmonte's Zarinsk 12 months ago.

He added: "I probably had her wrong and Colin had her right. I thought the way the race was run it wasn't going to suit as it turned into a sprint, but Colin has her as having more speed than I gave her credit for and thankfully he was right. He was in the right place on her and she answered and did it well. If she ends up doing what Zarinsk did last year, we'll be over the moon. There are big races here at the end of the year that we can aim for, the mile race [the G1 Matron Stakes]."

Wendla is the last foal out of the aforementioned prolific Group and Graded-stakes-winning champion Intercontinental, who is also the second dam of the Gr.3 Poker Stakes winner and Gr.1 Maker's Mark Mile runner-up Masen (Kingman). She is one of the esteemed crew produced by the world-famous Hasili, whose descendants include the Group 1 winners Romantica by Ulysses' sire Galileo and Mirage Dancer by Galileo's son Frankel.