Decent price IMO not too many horses these days win Grade Is at 2 and 3
Birdstone Will Return 'Home' to Gainesway
by Steve Haskin
Date Posted: 11/5/2004 3:00:19 PM
Last Updated: 11/5/2004 3:00:19 PM
Marylou Whitney's Birdstone, who was retired earlier the week of Nov. 1 after suffering a chip fracture in his left front ankle, will stand at Gainesway Farm near Lexington, Ky., Whitney's husband, John Hendrickson, said Nov. 5.
Birdstone, winner of the grade I Champagne, Belmont, and Travers Stakes, finished seventh in the Breeders' Cup Classic - Powered by Dodge (gr. I), after which a routine radiograph revealed the fracture.
Birdstone will join his half-sister, 3-year-old filly champion Bird Town, winner of the Acorn Stakes (gr. I) and Kentucky Oaks (gr. I), at Gainesway, where Whitney currently boards 22 mares.
"We're sending him back to where he was born," Hendrickson said. "We opted to keep 100% of him. And we decided we're going to price him for the long-term success, and make a statement as well by pricing him at $10,000. Our belief is, stallion fees are too high, especially for unproven horses.
"We could have gone a lot higher, obviously, but it's all about tradition. And why go to (Smarty Jones) for $100,000 when our horse beat him? Plus, we have three grade I wins. We're hoping, with his record and his bottom line, it makes him attractive to breeders.
"It's not that we don't have a high opinion of him, it's the exact opposite. We have such a high opinion of him, we want to give him the best chance for success.
"Gainesway was a no-brainer. They do a great job, and we've had a lot of luck with our 'Birds' there. So, the Bird is back in his nest. This makes a lot of sense. We could have opted for the big payout, but we're in this to promote the sport as well, and we felt this was the best way to go about it.
"It wasn't about money; it was about where he'd be the happiest. And Gainesway is all old Whitney land. We gave it a lot of thought, and the bottom line is, Birdstone is going home."
Hendrickson said Birdstone has been sent to trainer Nick Zito's barn at Churchill Downs and is scheduled to go to Gainesway within the next week.
"Nick has done a terrific job, and we can't thank him enough," Hendrickson said.
Birdstone retires with five victories from nine starts for earnings of $1,575,600.
Birdstone to Gainesway for 10K
Moderators: Roguelet, hpkingjr, WaveMaster
-
Sandi in Florida
- Maiden Special Weight
- Posts: 168
- Joined: Thu Sep 16, 2004 4:13 pm
- Location: Florida
VERY interesting--and I love her quote about why pay 100K for smarty when birdie beat him!
Really made me mad when she apologized for winning the Belmont--horse won fair and square--no need to apologize to anyone. That's life--deal with it. I'd have been jumping up and down with happiness, not apologizing. I might have even mooned a couple people. kidding.
I'm glad they put his fee lower, but I have my suspicions they did it for a different reason.
Really made me mad when she apologized for winning the Belmont--horse won fair and square--no need to apologize to anyone. That's life--deal with it. I'd have been jumping up and down with happiness, not apologizing. I might have even mooned a couple people. kidding.
I'm glad they put his fee lower, but I have my suspicions they did it for a different reason.
Hi All
This is the bargain of the year. The only thing wrong the folks in Kentucky know this fact also. Every farm is going to send their best mares to this horse so it will be very competitive to breed to him.[The only horse to beat the horse of the year.] Birdstone has the right sire, the right dam, good dam line, a good physical build to help lighten some monstrous mares,etc. Should prove to be very interesting.
Sincerely EK
This is the bargain of the year. The only thing wrong the folks in Kentucky know this fact also. Every farm is going to send their best mares to this horse so it will be very competitive to breed to him.[The only horse to beat the horse of the year.] Birdstone has the right sire, the right dam, good dam line, a good physical build to help lighten some monstrous mares,etc. Should prove to be very interesting.
Sincerely EK
I think they've priced him very competitively, which is terrific. But EK, I respectfully have to disagree:
Birdstone doesn't have the right sire, nobody breeds to "small" if they can avoid it, and the best mares in Kentucky would never be sent to a 10K stallion.
Every farm is going to send their best mares to this horse so it will be very competitive to breed to him.[The only horse to beat the horse of the year.] Birdstone has the right sire, the right dam, good dam line, a good physical build to help lighten some monstrous mares,etc.
Birdstone doesn't have the right sire, nobody breeds to "small" if they can avoid it, and the best mares in Kentucky would never be sent to a 10K stallion.
The 4th dam of Birdstone (Honey Dear) is by Counterpoint, found on the damline of Easy Goer, and is out of Miss Thrill, a daughter of Bull Lea from a mare (Boy's I'm It) related to Blue Larkspur. The dam of Birdstone's actually's 5x5 to Bull Lea through the aforesaid Miss Thrill and Bull Page, a representative of the Bull Lea/Blue Larkspur nick.
Futher reinforcement of this nick (whether through direct Blue Larkspur/Bull Lea crosses or on a more dispersed pattern) would probably be good, and it's very important to note that both Blue Larkspur and his nearly full sister in blood Boy's I'm It are decendants of the broodmare Padula, also the female line ancestress of Raise A Native, who nicked beautifully with Blue Larkspur and also did nicely with Bull Lea, an example of that being being Alydar, the sire of Easy Goer. That was a long sentence, eh?
This is also the female line of the imporatan European sire Relic. A semi-distantly related branch produced the important sires El GRan Senor and Nijinsky. Nijinsky has crossed good with Birdstone's damsire Storm Bird, with whom he shared Bull Page (Bull Lea o/o Blue Larkspur mare).
The two lines I'm going to say are Alydar (crossed with Storm Bird in Point Given and with Unbridled in Champion 2YO Anees), and Cape Town because he sired Bird Town from the same mare. Alydar's son Turkoman would certainly supply some size and he was the damsire of Point Given.
It's interesting Birdstone crosses Drone and Prince John, as Prince John and Drone's close relative Lady Capulet are combined in Kitten's Joy.
I'll also note here that Devil His Due has Halo (good for Prince John), and Raise A Cup, a combiner of Raise A Native and Blue Larkspur whose dam, Spring Sunshine, was bred on the exact same Nashua/Bull Lea/Blue Larkspur or Boy's I'm It cross as Birdstone's 3rd dam You All.
Also DHD's 2nd dam Lil Puss was 3x3 to Balladier, who was bred on the same cross of the Bradley stallions Black Toney and North Star III asBlue Larkspur and Boy's I'm It.
10,000 is a good deal; funny such a tiny horse has Unbridled as the grandsire, but of course he's by Unbridled's smallest son.
-llbean
Futher reinforcement of this nick (whether through direct Blue Larkspur/Bull Lea crosses or on a more dispersed pattern) would probably be good, and it's very important to note that both Blue Larkspur and his nearly full sister in blood Boy's I'm It are decendants of the broodmare Padula, also the female line ancestress of Raise A Native, who nicked beautifully with Blue Larkspur and also did nicely with Bull Lea, an example of that being being Alydar, the sire of Easy Goer. That was a long sentence, eh?
This is also the female line of the imporatan European sire Relic. A semi-distantly related branch produced the important sires El GRan Senor and Nijinsky. Nijinsky has crossed good with Birdstone's damsire Storm Bird, with whom he shared Bull Page (Bull Lea o/o Blue Larkspur mare).
The two lines I'm going to say are Alydar (crossed with Storm Bird in Point Given and with Unbridled in Champion 2YO Anees), and Cape Town because he sired Bird Town from the same mare. Alydar's son Turkoman would certainly supply some size and he was the damsire of Point Given.
It's interesting Birdstone crosses Drone and Prince John, as Prince John and Drone's close relative Lady Capulet are combined in Kitten's Joy.
I'll also note here that Devil His Due has Halo (good for Prince John), and Raise A Cup, a combiner of Raise A Native and Blue Larkspur whose dam, Spring Sunshine, was bred on the exact same Nashua/Bull Lea/Blue Larkspur or Boy's I'm It cross as Birdstone's 3rd dam You All.
Also DHD's 2nd dam Lil Puss was 3x3 to Balladier, who was bred on the same cross of the Bradley stallions Black Toney and North Star III asBlue Larkspur and Boy's I'm It.
10,000 is a good deal; funny such a tiny horse has Unbridled as the grandsire, but of course he's by Unbridled's smallest son.
-llbean