Expatriate stallion Bird Song sired his first winner June 18 when Pretty Birdie won her debut gate to wire by 3 3/4 lengths at Churchill Downs.
Pretty Birdie is a Marylou Whitney Stables homebred being raced by the late Whitney's husband John Hendrickson and trained by Norm Casse. The filly is the first winner out of the Street Sense daughter Bird Sense, who hails from the same female family as Bird Song. Pretty Birdie is inbred 3x4 to the important Whitney mare Dear Birdie.
Bird Sense produced a full brother to Pretty Birdie this year.
Bird Song, an 8-year-old son of Unbridled's Song, is a multiple graded stakes winner who found success in the Alysheba Stakes Presented by Big Fish Casino (G2) at Churchill and the Fred W. Hooper Stakes (G3) at Gulfstream Park. The stallion is a son of Whitney's champion 3-year-old filly and Kentucky Oaks (G1) heroine Bird Town, who is by Cape Town and a half sister to 2004 Belmont Stakes (G1) winner Birdstone.
Bird Song retired to stud in 2018 to Gainesway, where he stood for $5,000. Gainesway also stood Birdstone for his entire stud career. Birdstone was pensioned from stud duty in 2020 and sent to Old Friends Thoroughbred Retirement Center near Georgetown, Ky.
Bird Song was purchased by Saudi Arabian interests in 2020 and exported for the 2021 breeding season.
