If the names of the Kentucky Derby winner this year and the Belmont Stakes winner sound familiar, it’s because they should. There was some sibiling rivalry action going on Saturday in New York when Summer Bird won the Belmont Stakes beating Dunkirk and Derby winner Mine That Bird. As I referred to following the Kentucky Derby, Mine That Bird’s father is Birdstone, the winner of the ‘04 Belmont Stakes. Birdstone also sired Summer Bird, who just won the ‘09 Belmont Stakes.
Not only does Summer Bird have a strong pedrigree on his father’s side, he also has some excellent lineage from the mare. Going a couple of generations back, Summer Bird is the product of Secretariat, a previous triple crown winner, and Alydar, another one of the best horses in history. The mare for Mine That Bird is Mining My Own. I’m guessing there are some horses of note from her family otherwise they wouldn’t have mated her with Birdstone, but none of the names stand out to me. So if anyone asks the question what had the biggest impact on the Belmont Stakes, it wasn’t the length of the race, it wasn’t the jockeys, and it wasn’t the trainers — it was Birdstone. And man, does he have some super sperm.
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More Hot Stories at larrybrownsports.comThis entry was posted on Sunday, June 7th, 2009 and is filed under Horse Racing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
I’m very surprised at your comment about the lineage of Mining My Own, Mine That Bird’s dam. You said that none of the names stand out to you … Well, Mr. Brown, Mining My Own’s sire was none other than Smart Strike who happens to be the sire of, oh let me think … CURLIN. He is also the sire of the great English Channel. He also sired Fabulous Stike who ran a winning race of his own on Belmont Day. He’s the sire of Papa Clem and Square Eddie. Smart Strike himself is the son of Mr. Prospector which would make Mining My Own a granddaughter of that great sire. Certainly if you’re any kind of horse racing fan at all, these names are instantly recognizable. There was every reason in the world to mate a mare with this outstanding pedigree to Birdstone. Certainly Birdstone has an outstanding pedigree too so it’s not surprising this cross would produce a Derby winner.
Take it eaassyyy … sorry I’m not a horse racing expert who knows every single horse to ever be bred. Take it eaaasssyy