marylou whitney | Horse Racing Free Tips

Grade 2 Winner Bird Song Sold To Stand In Saudi Arabia

Multiple stakes winner Bird Song (Unbridled's Song – Bird Town) has been purchased to continue his stud career in Saudi Arabia in a deal brokered by Chad Schumer of Schumer Bloodstock.

The 7-year-old son of Unbridled's Song previously stood at Gainesway Farm in Kentucky. His oldest crop are yearlings of 2020.

Trained by Ian Wilkes on behalf of famed breeder Marylou Whitney, Bird Song won five races, including the Grade 2 Alysheba Stakes at Churchill Downs. That gate-to-wire victory over Honorable Duty, Noble Bird, and American Freedom capped an excellent 4-year-old campaign that also saw him win the G3 Fred W. Hooper Stakes at Gulfstream Park and run placed in the G3 Hal's Hope and Ben Ali Stakes.

Bird Song boasts a pedigree out of the top drawer as a son of Marylou Whitney's champion Kentucky Oaks heroine Bird Town. In turn, that daughter of Cape Town is a half-sister to Belmont Stakes winner Birdstone, subsequently a classic-producing sire.

The post Grade 2 Winner Bird Song Sold To Stand In Saudi Arabia appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Birdstone Pensioned to Old Friends

Birdstone (Grindstone–Dear Birdie, by Storm Bird), who sired the winners of two-thirds of the 2009 Triple Crown with runners from his first crop to race, has been retired from stud duties at Gainesway. He will live out his days at Old Friends Retirement Center in Georgetown, KY.

Bred by the late Marylou Whitney and trained by Nick Zito, the year-older half-brother to GI Kentucky Oaks winner Bird Town (Cape Town) won two of his three starts as a juvenile, including a 2 1/2-length success in the GI Champagne S. Eighth in a sloppy renewal of the GI Kentucky Derby in 2004, the bay was roundly dismissed at 36-1 in the GI Belmont S., with Smarty Jones (Elusive Quality) heavily favored to become the first Triple Crown winner in a quarter-century. Birdstone commenced a rally on the turn and employed his superior stamina to cause the upset, with Whitney openly apologetic to the racing public. He made his next start in the GI Travers S. nearly three months later, drawing clear by 2 1/2 lengths as a massive rainstorm was about to hit Saratoga. He retired to stud with a record of 9-5-0-0 and earnings of $1,575,600.

Birdstone sired nearly a third of his 22 stakes winners from his first crop, including Kentucky Derby upsetter Mine That Bird and Summer Bird, who would add the Belmont, Travers and Jockey Club Gold Cup en route to Eclipse Award honors. Birdstone was the sire of 10 graded/group winners in total, including GI Stephen Foster H. hero Noble Bird and Peruvian G1SW Birdie Gold.

“We are so grateful to John Hendrickson for allowing Old Friends to care for Birdstone in his post-breeding career,” said Blowen. “He’s a living tribute to the late Marylou Whitney, and we plan to carry on her great contributions to the aftercare of both humans and horses. We’re extremely grateful to John for trusting us to care for his tremendous stakes winner. Birdstone had a great life at Gainesway and we plan to continue that tradition at Old Friends.”

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Belmont, Travers Winner Birdstone Pensioned To Old Friends

Belmont Stakes and Travers winner Birdstone has been pensioned to Old Friends, the Thoroughbred Retirement Center in Georgetown, KY.

Michael Blowen, founder and president of Old Friends, made the announcement Friday.

A homebred for owner Marylou Whitney and trained by Nick Zito, Birdstone captured the G1 Champagne Stakes as a two-year-old in 2003. Birdstone ran up the track in the Kentucky Derby and sat out the Preakness, before surprising most of the sell-out crowd when he got up in the final yards in the Belmont Stakes to ruin Smarty Jones' try for the Triple Crown. That summer, at Saratoga Race Course, Birdstone proved that the Belmont was no fluke when he added a victory in the Travers Stakes to his impressive resume.

The son of Grindstone, out of the Storm Bird mare Dear Birdie, Birdstone retired from racing in 2004 after a chip was found in his left front ankle after his final start was in the GR1 Breeders' Cup Classic. Birdstone retired with five victories from nine starts and earnings of $1,575,600.

He spent his stallion career at Gainesway Farm in Lexington, KY where he became one of very few sires to have produced a Kentucky Derby winner in their first crop when Mine That Bird captured the 2009 Run for the Roses at 50-to-1 upset in 2009. That same year, his son Summer Bird repeated his sire's efforts by winning both the Belmont and Travers Stakes.

“We are so grateful to John Hendrickson for allowing Old Friends to care for Birdstone in his post-breeding career,” said Blowen. “He's a living tribute to the late Marylou Whitney, and we plan to carry on her great contributions to the aftercare of both humans and horses,” he added. “We're extremely grateful to John for trusting us to care for his tremendous stakes winner. Birdstone had a great life at Gainesway and we plan to continue that tradition at Old Friends.”

The post Belmont, Travers Winner Birdstone Pensioned To Old Friends appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Marylou Whitney Collection Auction Adds 220 Items

The Marylou Whitney Collection Auction online event has added 220 items from the philanthropist’s estate. The newly released items will include a featured framed original painting by Whitney entitled “Snow Bird”; signed, circa 1966. The items will be added to the auction and available for bidding at 9:00 am EST July 30 with bidding on all items in the collection ending at 11:59 pm EST on Whitney Day, Aug. 1.

The Marylou Whitney Collection auction benefits the new building that will be the future home of the backstretch medical clinic operated at Saratoga Race Course by Saratoga Hospital and the Backstretch Employee Service Team.

The post Marylou Whitney Collection Auction Adds 220 Items appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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