The unbeaten two-year-old Cherry Tortoni provided a timely endorsement for his sire Night Of Thunder to cover mares to southern hemisphere time with a determined victory on Saturday, 4 July in the Listed Taj Rossi Final at Flemington. Given a perfect ride by Billy Egan, Cherry Tortoni scored by a short half-head from Alcyone (Teofilo) in a race that traditionally identifies spring Derby prospects.
Cherry Tortoni is out of the Strategic mare Tortoni, a half-sister to the multiple G1 winner and Champion Tie The Knot (Nassipour). Their dam is the G1 Australian 1000 Guineas heroine Whisked.
Night Of Thunder has made a tremendous start at stud having already sired 15 worldwide Stakes winners. Cherry Tortoni is a product of Night Of Thunder’s only Australian breeding season at Darley’s Northwood Park Stud in Victoria, from a crop that has also produced the Stakes winners A Beautiful Night and River Night. It was announced this week that he will also serve a limited number of mares to southern hemisphere time in 2020 from his base at Kildangan Stud.
