First foal for champion and $9.5m mare Songbird is a filly by Arrogate

The first foal for Songbird arrived as smoothly as things went on the track for the two-time champion.

At 12:05 am local time on Monday, Songbird delivered an Arrogate filly at Wayne and Cathy Sweezey's Timber Town Farm near Lexington,Kentucky. Mandy Pope boards a number of her mares at Timber Town, including Songbird.

"In my life I've foaled thousands of mare and she's one of the best I've ever been around. She's a very, very special mare," Wayne Sweezey said. "Everybody anticipated this. She was already pretty special – it's been very special to have her on the farm – but she was so professional what she did last night."

Songbird was due to deliver her first foal on Sunday and went all of five minutes over that projection.

Sweezey said it took her about a half hour to get the baby in position, then, with one person assisting, she delivered the filly. After about 15 minutes of rest, Songbird stood up and accepted the new foal.

A six-year-old daughter of Medaglia D'Oro , Songbird earned championships as a two-year-old, after winning the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies at Keeneland to complete an undefeated season; and as a three-year-old, when she won four Grade 1 races and was just edged by Beholder in one of the greatest Breeders' Cup races of all time, the 2016 Distaff at Santa Anita Park.

At four, Songbird added two more Grade 1 wins before being retired. She was trained by Jerry Hollendorfer for owner Rick Porter's Fox Hill Farms.

Porter purchased Songbird as a yearling for $400,000 at the 2014 Fasig Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling Sale where she was consigned by Hill 'n' Dale Sales Agency.

After her racing career, Songbird was sold for $9.5 million to Pope's Whisper Hill Farm at the 2017 Fasig-Tipton The November Sale, where she was consigned by Taylor Made Sales Agency.

The new Songbird filly is part of the first crop by Arrogate, North America's all-time leading earner at more than $17.4m. Arrogate, by Unbridled's Song, stands for $75,000 at Juddmonte Farms in Lexington.

The foal, inbred 4x4 to Forty Niner and to Deputy Minister, represents the cross of Unbridled's Song and his sons with El Prado and his and grandsons, which has already produced six black-type performers, including two stakes winners and two Graded-placed winners.

About 90 minutes after the foaling, Sweezey paid an early morning visit to Songbird.

"I walked over there and she put her head near my shoulder," Sweezey said. "I patted her on the head and told her she's a good girl and she went right back to her foal."

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