Noble Bird was in a class by himself May 20 in the $300,000 Pimlico Special (G3), bounding to an 11¼-length victory, the second graded stakes score for the 5-year-old son of Birdstone.
After a bit of a tangled break between several horses, Noble Bird emerged in front after a quarter-mile in 23.53 seconds. Under light restraint from Julien Leparoux, the big chestnut stretched his lead to three lengths at the halfway point, then really opened up in the stretch, coming home the easiest of winners in 1:55.18 for the 1 3/16 miles.
“The last time I rode him, he didn’t break good,” Leparoux “This time I learned from that. I thought just be patient with him. The key for today was to let him alone, and he relaxed beautifully.”
Noble Bird, winner of last year’s Stephen Foster H. (G1), is now 5-4-0 in 15 starts and upped his earnings to $755,785 after the $180,000 payday. The winner is owned by John Oxley and trained by Mark Casse.
In addition to Noble Bird, Birdstone is the sire of 2016 stakes winners Classy Bird and Mexikoma, who also placed in the Grade 1 Donn H.