March 29, 2024

Belmont Stakes winner Birdstone retiring to Old Friends

GEORGETOWN, Ky. (AP) — The 2004 Belmont Stakes winner, Birdstone, is retiring to Old Friends Thoroughbred Retirement Center in Kentucky, the farm said.

Birdstone, who also won the Travers Stakes in 2004, retired from racing that year when a chip was found in an ankle, the Georgetown farm said in a news release.

He spent his stallion career at Gainesway Farm in Lexington, producing 2009 Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird in his first crop. The same year, his son Summer Bird won both the Belmont and the Travers.

Birdstone was owned by the late Marylou Whitney and trained by Nick Zito when he pulled out a surprise win in the Belmont to stop Smarty Jones’ shot at the Triple Crown.

He is a son of Grindstone, out of the Storm Bird mare Dear Birdie. Birdstone retired with five victories from nine starts and earnings of more than $1.5 million.