
Derby Winner Mine That Bird Retired
Mine That Bird, who stunned the racing world when he won the 2009 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) at 50-1 odds, has been retired.
Mine That Bird, who stunned the racing world when he won the 2009 Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) at 50-1 odds, has been retired.
It had been nearly 10 months, but on Friday morning 2009 Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird stepped back on the track where he became a household name in taking the Run for the Roses.
Trainer ran two 3-year-olds in the Feb. 27 Borderland Derby at Sunland Park. Raise the Bar finished first, but was DQ'd to second behind his other colt, Storming Saint. It was 8 3/4 lengths back to the third-placed runner.
New Mexico state representative Candy Spence Ezzell recognized Mine That Bird as "New Mexico Horse of the Year for 2009." The memorial passed the state's House of Representatives Feb. 11 unanimously by a vote of 70-0.
The New Mexico Horse Breeders Association announced its 2009 state-bred champions at its annual awards banquet held at the Marriott Hotel in Albuquerque Jan. 28.
Mark Allen, the co-owner of Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) winner Mine That Bird, said the gelding will appear in New Mexico in September.
Nothing seems to faze Mine That Bird, and lately, nothing seems to faze his trainer, Chip Woolley, either. There is a reason.
After working Mine That Bird June 1 at Churchill Downs, jockey Calvin Borel "guaranteed" that the gelded son of Birdstone would win the June 6 Belmont Stakes (gr. I). Believe it or not, Borel is now even more confident.
So, when the interviews are done and night spreads over Churchill Downs and all that remains to be done at Churchill Downs is cleaning tons of trash off the ground, does one's life really change after winning the world's most famous race?
Trainer Bennie "Chip" Woolley Jr. has never been to Baltimore, but that will all change in a few days, as prepares Mine That Bird for a run in the May 16 Preakness Stakes at Pimlico.
So Long Birdie, a half-brother to Belmont Stakes (gr. I) winner Birdstone and champion filly Bird Town, will stand in 2006 at Dr. Leonard Blach's Buena Suerte Equine near Roswell, N.M. His fee will be $2,000.
Bay Head King, a multiple stakes-placed son of Saint Ballado, will enter stud at Dr. Leonard Blach's Buena Suerte Equine near Roswell, N.M.