Songbird, Mor Spirit have half-siblings by American Pharoah

Two years after rocking Belmont Park by completing his Triple Crown sweep, American Pharoah was far from New York’s racing action last Saturday. The 5-year-old stallion has completed his second season at Coolmore’s Ashford Stud in Kentucky and now has some downtime before heading to Australia this summer for his first Southern Hemisphere shuttle season.

But if American Pharoah was out of sight, he wasn’t out of mind Saturday, as Songbird and Mor Spirit emphatically won Grade 1 events. Both their dams delivered foals from the Triple Crown winner’s first crop this year.

Two-time champion Songbird’s dam, Ivanavinalot, delivered her filly April 23, according to Equineline records. The West Acre mare was a Grade 2 winner during her racing career.

Mor Spirit won the Metropolitan Handicap by 6 1/4 lengths, the second Grade 1 victory and fifth stakes score of his career. His dam, Im a Dixie Girl, from the immediate family of champion Stellar Wind, had a colt March 20. The Dixie Union mare was a Grade 3-placed stakes winner.