Proud Birdie was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 Thoroughbred

Thoroughbred

The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...

 racehorse best known for his upset win in the G1

Graded stakes race

A graded stakes race is a term applied since 1973 by the American Graded Stakes Committee of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association to thoroughbred horse races in the United States and Canada to describe races that derive their name from the stake, or entry fee, owners must pay...

 Marlboro Cup Invitational Handicap

Marlboro Cup Invitational Handicap

The Marlboro Cup Invitational Handicap was a Thoroughbred horse race first run in September 1973 at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York. A Grade 1 race for horses 3 years old and up, it was raced over a distance of 1 1/8 miles on a dirt track....

. Bred in Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

, he was sired by 1967 Kentucky Derby

Kentucky Derby

The Kentucky Derby is a Grade I stakes race for three-year-old Thoroughbred horses, held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The race is one and a quarter mile at Churchill Downs. Colts and geldings carry...

 winner Proud Clarion

Proud Clarion

Proud Clarion was an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the 1967 Kentucky Derby. Owned and bred by John W. Galbreath, he was foaled at his Darby Dan Farm in Lexington, Kentucky. His sire was Hail To Reason, the U.S. Champion Two-Year-Old Colt for 1960, and his grandsire was...

 and out of the mare Bernie Bird, a daughter of the speedy Del Mar Derby

Del Mar Derby

The Del Mar Derby is an American thoroughbred horse race run annually during the first week of September at Del Mar Racetrack in Del Mar, California...

 winner, Bolero.

Racing career

Proud Birdie was purchased for $21,000 by A. Douglas Henderson's Marablue Farm of Reddick, Florida

Reddick, Florida

Reddick is a town in Marion County, Florida, United States. As of the 2000 census, the town population was 571. As of 2004, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 618...

 at the 1975 Ocala Breeders' Sales Company auction of two-year-olds in training. Raced by Marablue Farm, Proud Birdie was trained by Rosemary Lepera and then Hall of Fame

National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame

The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame was founded in 1950 in Saratoga Springs, New York, to honor the achievements of American thoroughbred race horses, jockeys, and trainers...

 inductee, James Maloney

James W. Maloney

James W. "Jim" Maloney was an American Hall of Fame trainer of Thoroughbred racehorses. The son of a trainer, his own professional career lasted fifty years from 1935 until his death in 1984....

 who said his greatest thrill in racing was Proud Bertie's win in the Marlboro Cup. He raced from age two through five and retired having won nine of his thirty-five starts with earnings of $324,842.

Stallion career

Proud Birdie stood his entire stallion career at Marablue Farm where he sired thirty-three stakes winners including multiple stakes winner, Birdonthewire.

Pensioned in 1998, Proud Birdie was euthanized on May 2, 2003 at age thirty due to complications from the infirmities of old age.