By admin 
There’s a lot of history in the pedigree of Grade 1 winner Tam Tam (by Medaglia d’Oro), who is a top-class daughter of a leading sire, granddaughter of a second leading sire and broodmare sire (Distorted Humor), as well as a granddaughter of champion juvenile filly Folklore (Tiznow).
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With that pedigree behind her, the Kentucky-bred was sent to auction by breeder Stonestreet Thoroughbred Holdings and went through the ring at Fasig-Tipton’s 2024 Saratoga select sale, where she brought $975,000 from Rigney Racing.
Two years on, Tam Tam won the Grade 1 Queen Elizabeth II Challenge Cup at Keeneland on Oct. 10. That race makes two Grade 1 victories in a row for the dark bay filly, who won the G1 Del Mar Oaks in her previous start.
Her front-running victory at Keeneland makes the filly a winner from five of her 10 starts to date, all those victories coming in 2026. Last season, the filly had a second, a third, and a fourth from three essays against other maidens on dirt. Both the filly and her connections have learned their lessons well because Tam Tam switched to turf and won her 3-year-old debut on Feb. 7 at Gulfstream, then advanced to win the Sanibel Island Stakes the following month, also at Gulfstream.
The filly took another step up in company to race for the G2 Edgewood Stakes and G3 Regret Stakes at Churchill, finishing second and third, respectively. Her second stakes victory came in the listed Tepin Stakes at Churchill on June 27, and she has added the successive G1s since.
With slightly more than $1 million in earnings this season, Tam Tam is the leading money spinner of 2026 for her famous sire, who is now a pensioner at Darley’s Jonabell Farm in Lexington.
The 27-year-old Medaglia d’Oro never had a son or daughter who looks and races any more like him than Tam Tam, who is a mightily handsome, round-muscled filly who enjoys racing near or on the lead like her sire did so successfully.
Unlike dirt-course star Medaglia d’Oro, however, the key to Tam Tam’s rise to Grade 1 prominence was a switch to turf racing this season. Some of the Medaglia stock, quite like most of the racers by his sire El Prado and grandsire Sadler’s Wells, have shown their best form on turf.
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Even so, Medaglia d’Oro made his name as a top stallion by siring dirt horses like himself, and the best of his first crop was champion Rachel Alexandra, winner of the G1 Kentucky Oaks, Preakness Stakes, Haskell, and Woodward. Subsequent stars followed, including the marvelous Songbird, champion and two and three and a winner in 13 of her 15 starts, including the G1 Del Mar Debutante, Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, Coaching Club American Oaks, and Alabama Stakes from nine G1 victories.
The sire of top racers around the world – such as Hong Kong star Golden Sixty – Medaglia d’Oro had a third American champion with Nitrogen, who won the Sovereign Award as Canada’s champion juvenile filly of 2024 and the Eclipse Award as the 2025 champion 3-year-old filly in the U.S., when she won the G1 Alabama Stakes and finished second in both the G1 Spinster and Breeders’ Cup Distaff.
Out of the Distorted Humor mare Princess Julia, Tam Tam is one of the leading earners of 2026 for her broodmare sire Distorted Humor, whose top earner this year is Rhetorical (Not This Time), a two-time G1 winner this year like Tam Tam.
A leading sire and then broodmare sire like Medaglia d’Oro, Distorted Humor was pensioned from breeding after the 2021 season, and he died on Jan. 10 at age 33. The stallion’s breeding career had been a consistent success. He led the 2002 freshmen sires list, then had his first-crop son Funny Cide win the 2003 Kentucky Derby and Preakness.
His daughter Princess Julia came from a 2013 mating with Folklore, who was a champion daughter of fellow WinStar Farm sire Tiznow (Cee’s Tizzy). Folklore had won four of her seven starts as a two-year-old, including the G1 Matron Stakes and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, then was retired after a single losing start at three.
As sometimes happens with broodmares, Folklore produced no racers who approached her own success, but seven of her foals were winners. Two of Folklore’s daughters have produced winners at the highest level, with Contrail (Deep Impact) being the top racer of his age in each of his three seasons racing in Japan, and now Tam Tam ascending to the top tier of U.S. fillies on turf.
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Fans will watch with interest to see what history she adds to this family.
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This story was originally published October 14, 2026 at 6:20 AM.