NEWS
S. S. Stone is first winner for Birdstone
Posted: Monday, June 30, 2008 5:59 PM
BIRDSTONE WINNING THE 2004 BELMONT STAKES (G1)
NYRA photo
Freshman sire Birdstone, winner of the Belmont (G1) and Travers (G1) Stakes in 2004, was represented by his first winner as a sire on Sunday when S. S. Stone won a maiden special weight race at Hollywood Park.
S. S. Stone completed 5 1/2 furlongs on the synthetic Cushion Track surface in 1:03.77 for trainer Doug O’Neill and owner Robert LaPenta. Marylou Whitney, who bred and raced Birdstone, bred S. S. Stone out of the stakes-winning Dixieland Band mare Sing and Swing. All nine foals to race out of Sing and Swing are winners.
S. S. Stone was the fifth starter from Birdstone’s initial crop of 68 two-year-olds. By Grindstone out of the stakes-placed Storm Bird mare Dear Birdie, Birdstone is a half brother to champion Bird Town. He has stood four seasons at Antony Beck’s Gainesway Farm in Lexington for $10,000.
Trained by Nick Zito for Whitney, Birdstone earned $1,575,600 with five wins in nine starts, including a victory in the Champagne Stakes (G1) as a two-year-old.
Whitney sold S. S. Stone to Robert LaPenta for $135,000 at the 2007 Keeneland September yearling sale, and LaPenta attempted to sell the colt at the Fasig-Tipton Calder sale of selected two-year-olds in training but his reserve was not attained on a final bid of $300,000. Zito won this year’s Belmont Stakes for LaPenta with Da’ Tara.
