Having suffered the lone defeat of her career to date at the hands of the now-retired Beholder (Henny Hughes) in an epic renewal of the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff last November, Songbird made the cross-country journey to New York for Saturday's GI Ogden Phipps S., a race in which the aforementioned four-time Eclipse Award winner suffered just one of her two career finishes outside the top three in 2014. Carrying a penalty for her previous exploits and undoubtedly short of peak fitness, Songbird was given a cool ride by the red-hot Mike Smith and took care of business, winning her eighth career Grade I race by a tight length over a game Paid Up Subscriber (Candy Ride {Arg}).
Saturday, Belmont Park
OGDEN PHIPPS S.-GI, $735,000, BEL, 6-10, 4yo/up, f/m, 1 1/16m, 1:42.24, ft.
1–SONGBIRD, 123, f, 4, by Medaglia d'Oro&log=">Medaglia d'Oro
1st Dam: Ivanavinalot (GSW, $647,300), by West Acre
2nd Dam: Beaty Sark, by Deputy Minister
3rd Dam: Torsion Belle, by Torsion
'TDN Rising Star' ($400,000 Ylg '14 FTSAUG). O-Fox Hill Farms, Inc.; B-John
Antonelli (KY); T-Jerry Hollendorfer; J-Mike E. Smith.
$400,000. Lifetime Record: Ch. 2yo Filly & Ch. 3yo Filly,
13-12-1-0, $4,112,000. Werk Nick Rating: A+++. *Triple
Plus*. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
[bullet ad=”hillndale-consigned”][bullet ad=”lynwood-stable-graduate”] 2–Paid Up Subscriber, 117, m, 5, Candy Ride (Arg)&log=">Candy Ride (Arg)–Shriek, by
Street Cry (Ire). ($135,000 Ylg '13 KEESEP; $1,100,000 4yo '16
FTKNOV). O-Allen Stable, Inc. & Peter M. Brant; B-Bruce &
Laurie Berenson (KY); T-Chad C. Brown. $140,000.[bullet ad=”brookdale-sold-2″][bullet ad=”nick-de-meric-purchase-graduate”][bullet ad=”blackburn-farm-foaled-raised-sold”][bullet ad=”schumer-dam-purchased”]3–Highway Star, 119, f, 4, Girolamo–Stolen Star, by Cat Thief.
O/B-Chester & Mary R. Broman (NY); T-Rodrigo A. Ubillo. $75,000.[bullet ad=”sequelbloodstock-grad”] Margins: 1, 2HF, 3/4. Odds: 0.35, 7.40, 9.00.
Also Ran: Carina Mia, Verve's Tale, Factory of Faith, Bar of Gold. Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.
Looking to give her Hall of Fame jockey his third stakes win of the afternoon, Songbird shot out of the stalls and straight into the lead, but was kept out in the three or four path as they made their way through an opening quarter-mile in :23.99. TDN Rising Star Carina Mia (Malibu Moon), winner of the GI Acorn S. on this program 12 months ago, prompted from the outside, while Paid Up Subscriber was given a positive ride by Javier Castellano to attend the pace from the inside. With four furlongs covered in a manageable :47.27, Songbird led the Phipps field into the far turn, but Castellano allowed Paid Up Subscriber a bit more rein to race at the favorite's saddle towel before drawing level and poking her head in front at the five-sixteenths. But Smith remained motionless and full of confidence in the saddle–even having surrendered the lead–and by the time heads were turned for home, Songbird was back in front. Ridden hands and heels into the final furlong, Songbird was more vigorously–if whiplessly–urged thereafter and was cozily in front at the wire. Highway Star, off to a stumbling start, put forth her typically honest effort to earn Grade I black-type in third.
“She is so good out of the gate and God willing she'll continue to do so,” Smith commented. “She jumped really, really well [out of the gate] and I stayed off the fence today, just because it's her first race back. If someone wanted to get brave and move early at her, I'd rather move in [to] my inside so that I could wait and keep my position. That part worked out and after that, I hand rode her home. She got a little tired but she is supposed to.
He added, “She is so much smarter as a 4-year-old. She is one of the most intelligent horses you'll ever be on. You can ride her with your fingers.”
Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer admitted that the Songbird seen Saturday afternoon was short of a finished product.
“Let's call this a great race off the layoff,” he opined. “I'm not sure she's at the top of her game right now, but she did very well today. Mike gave her a great ride and he's in the groove today.”
Crowned a TDN Rising Star off a smashing Del Mar Debut some 23 months ago, Songbird won her four juvenile starts by a combined 22 lengths, capped by a tour-de-force in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies. She ran her winning streak to 11 over the course of her 3-year-old season, winning those seven races in routine fashion, bar the GI CCA Oaks, in which Carina Mia tried her in the stretch only to be repelled. Favored at 11-10 squaring off against Beholder in the Distaff, Songbird led clear for the opening mile, but her older foe was able to tag her on the wire despite covering an additional 39 feet (about four lengths).
Pedigree Notes:
Bred on the same cross over Forty Niner responsible for Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra, Songbird is a half-sister to the dam of GSW Mico Margarita (Run Away and Hide) and is a daughter of Ivanavinalot (West Acre), one of the best horses to ever race in the green-and-white colors of her breeder Gil Campbell's Stonehedge Farm. Her marquee win came in the 2003 GII Bonnie Miss S. Ivanavinalot is a half-sister to the talented six-time stakes winner Shananie's Beat (Shananie) and to MSP Beatie's For Real (Unreal Zeal), the dam of GSWs Friel's For Real (Sword Dance {Ire}) and Ryan's For Real (Sword Dance {Ire}) as well as the Medaglia d'Oro filly Onepointhreekarats, a $1.3 million Keeneland September yearling who went on to win three stakes for Charlotte Weber's Live Oak Plantation. Songbird is kin to the 2-year-old filly Song of Mine (Ghostzapper), an $800,000 acquisition by PTK LLC at last year's Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale, and to a yearling filly by Tapizar. Ivanavinalot, who was bought back out of the 2015 Fasig-Tipton November sale on a bid of $885,000, produced a filly from the first crop of Triple Crown winner American Pharoah this past Apr. 23.
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