Champion Songbird delivers first foal, by Arrogate

Champion Songbird delivered her first foal, a filly from the first crop of champion Arrogate, early Monday morning at Timber Town Farm in Kentucky.

Songbird has been boarded at Timber Town since Mandy Pope purchased her for a near-record $9.5 million as a broodmare prospect at the 2017 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky fall selected mixed sale.

"Songbird is a fantastic mother and both she and her foal are doing well," Timber Town wrote on its social media channels.

Songbird, who raced for Rick Porter's Fox Hill Farm, won the first 11 starts of her career to capture the public's imagination. Her unbeaten Eclipse Award championship 2-year-old campaign in 2015 was highlighted by a score in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies.

The following season, the Jerry Hollendorfer trainee missed the Kentucky Oaks due to a minor illness, but romped in two historic stakes for the division in summer at Saratoga, winning the Coaching Club American Oaks by 5 1/2 lengths and the Alabama Stakes by seven. She finished second by the barest nose to four-time Eclipse Award champion Beholder in the Breeders' Cup Distaff, but had done enough to lock up her second Eclipse title despite suffering her first defeat.

Songbird returned in 2017 to win the Ogden Phipps and the Delaware Handicap, pushing her number of Grade 1 victories to nine. However, she finished second to Forever Unbridled - who subsequently won the Breeders' Cup Distaff - in the Personal Ensign Stakes, prompting Porter to send her for a complete veterinary workup under the care of Larry Bramlage at Rood and Riddle. The exam revealed suspensory damage and a bone chip, prompting her retirement. Porter, who does not maintain a broodmare band and regularly sells his top fillies and mares, then sent her through Fasig-Tipton, where Pope added her to the broodmare band that also includes Porter's 2011 Horse of the Year Havre de Grace, a record $10 million purchase.

Songbird finished her racing career with a record of 15-13-2-0 and earnings of $4,692,000.

Songbird's newborn filly is also one of the first foals for champion Arrogate. Juddmonte Farm announced the arrival of its champion's first two foals on Saturday.

Arrogate, by Unbridled's Song, won 7 of 11 starts and earned a staggering $17,422,600 by landing the world's two richest events, making him North America's all-time leading moneywinner.

Arrogate burst onto the national stage with a 13 1/2-length victory in the 2017 Travers Stakes in a track-record 1:59.36. He proceeded to best two-time Horse of the Year California Chrome in the $6 million Breeders' Cup Classic, then won the inaugural Pegasus, then worth $12 million, by 4 3/4 lengths the following January. He ran down Gun Runner - the eventual 2018 Horse of the Year - to win the $10 million Dubai World Cup.

Arrogate entered stud at Juddmonte for an advertised fee of $75,000, making him North America's most expensive incoming stallion for 2018. His racetrack rival, Horse of the Year Gun Runner, entered stud at Three Chimneys for $70,000. Gun Runner covered 171 mares in his first season, according to The Jockey Club's Report of Mares Bred, while Arrogate covered 145. Gun Runner's first foals have also begun arriving, with a filly born at Shadai Farm in Japan on Jan. 17 the first to appear. She is out of Giuliet Seattle, a multiple Group 1 winner in her native Argentina.