Songbird retired after Personal Ensign defeat
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. » Saratoga Race Course patrons gave Songbird a standing ovation as she walked off the main track.
Those moments after being upset in the Grade 1 Personal Ensign on Travers Day last Saturday turned out to be the final chapter of the 4-year-old filly’s brilliant racing career.
Fox Hill Farm owner Rick Porter announced Songbird’s retirement Thursday in a Facebook post.
“There is an ancient proverb that says all good things must come to an end,” Porter said in the written post. “Today, Fox Hill Farm announces that something that was very good for us, and very good for racing, has come to an end — the racing career of Songbird.”
Porter mentioned bone bruising that was slow to heal as the reason for her long layoff last winter. The first two races of her 2017 season, wins in the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps June 10 and Grade 1 Delaware Handicap July 15, suggested to Porter that she had not regained her previous form. Her loss to Forever Unbridled prompted a trip to Rood and Riddle veterinary for an evaluation.
After an ultrasound, x-rays, a bone scan and MRI, it was determined both suspensories were enlarged and a distinct line on the bone she had issues with last winter was present.
“We have a situation where it’d be dangerous for Songbird to continue training, and Dr. (Larry) Bramlage isn’t optimistic that the site will fully resolve even if given ample time,” Porter wrote.
Fox Hill Farm also posted photos of her test results and bone scan of the afflicted area.
The retirement marks the end of a three-year racing career in which Songbird won 13 of her 15 starts. She was runner-up in the other two.
The Medaglia d’Oro filly out of Ivanavinalot, by West Acre, won all four of her juvenile races, including the Del Mar Debutante, Chandelier and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies — all Grade 1 events. As a result, Songbird won the Eclipse Award for Champion 2-year-old filly in 2015.
Conditioned by Jerry Hollendorfer and ridden by Mike Smith, she continued her win streak as a 3-year-old, making stops at Saratoga Race Course to dominate the field in the Grade 1 Coaching
Club American Oaks by 5 1/4 lengths and the Grade 1 Alabama by 7 lengths.
Songbird ran her win streak to 11 races before suffering the first loss of her career by a head bob in a Breeders’ Cup Distaff finish for the ages.
Songbird had her usual front-running trip but was challenged by Beholder — the previous year’s Champion Older Mare — around the final turn. The two champions engaged in a thrilling stretch-long duel in which Beholder never led until a jump before the wire.
Despite the loss, Songbird won her second Eclipse Award, this time as Champion 3-year-old filly for 2016.
“She was an absolute joy to race, and we expect that she’ll be as wonderful a broodmare as she was a racehorse,” Porter wrote. “She took us on an incredible and unforgettable journey. While we’re sad that we must retire her, we absolutely cannot risk having another Eight Belles kind of devastation and are ultimately happy that she is retiring in good health. May she soar to new heights in her future journey.”
Songbird ends her career with a record of 13-2-0 and earnings of $4,692,000.