Bird Town

The 2-year-old filly Alyeska (Vekoma), an eye-catching, come-from-behind debut winner carrying the famed Marylou Whitney silks at Churchill Downs Sept. 20, brought a sale-topping $675,000 from bloodstock agent Steve Young at Keeneland's single-session November Horses of Racing Age sale Thursday, which produced substantial across-the-board increases. Fellow Marylou Whitney homebred and the once-raced 2-year-old colt Captain Cook (Practical Joke), a troubled sixth on debut beneath the Twin Spires Oct. 27, was also purchased by Young for $410,000, the second-most expensive lot of the day. The duo were both previously trained by...

Marylou Whitney Stables' homebred Pretty Birdie (Bird Song) became the first winner for her expatriated sire (by Unbridled's Song) with a good-looking box-to-wire tally on Churchill debut Friday afternoon. Taking good pari-mutuel action as a 43-10 chance, the gray filly hit the ground running and clicked off an opening couple of furlongs in :22.16. Traveling well within the grasp of Joe Talamo for the run around the turn, Pretty Birdie was ridden hands and heels into the final eighth of a mile and was kept to her task to score...

Multiple graded stakes winner Bird Song (Unbridled's Song--Bird Town, by Cape 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 previously stood at Gainesway Farm, with his oldest crop being yearlings of this year. Trained by Ian Wilkes on behalf of Marylou Whitney, Bird Song won the GII Alysheba S. and GIII Fred W. Hooper S. as a 4-year-old in 2017 and finished his career with over $500,000 in earnings. His dam, who captured the...