When winning the Travers, the Darley homebred Bernardini merely followed in
All in all, an extraordinary feat for one family to accomplish.
“It’s been a fantastic weekend,” said John Ferguson, bloodstock
“With Discreet Cat, Ashkal Way, Incriminate, Henny Hughes and
Before the Travers could get started, though, a fractious Minister’s Bid
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High Cotton (Dixie Union) and Bluegrass Cat (Storm Cat) shot to the front,
with Bernardini taking up the space in between. As those three crossed under the
wire for the first time, jockey Javier Castellano merely nudged Bernardini and
his mount quickly moved to the fore, settling in along the rail. With Bluegrass
Cat just behind and to his outside, the bay colt snapped off splits of :23 2/5,
:48 and 1:12 3/5. Turning into the stretch, the much anticipated match race
between Bluegrass Cat and Bernardini appeared set.
However, Bernardini and Castellano had other plans.
As Bluegrass Cat came up to issue a challenge, Castellano gave Bernardini his
cue, and the powerful sophomore took off. Flying down the stretch, Bernardini
easily put away his persistent rival, getting a mile in 1:36 4/5 before crossing
under the line 7 1/2 lengths in front and completing 1 1/4 miles on the fast
track in 2:01 3/5.
“I did not expect to go to the lead like that, but my horse broke sharp, he
wanted to go in the first turn,” Castellano said. “I didn’t want to fight him. I
wanted to see him comfortable.”
As to the little spill he took during the post parade, the rider explained,
“(Bernardini) was feeling good, the crowd and the people, as we galloped out he took a bad
step. I lost my balance and fell to the side. I wasn’t worried about it because
he’s a special horse and nothing bothers him.”
Bernardini, who pushed his earnings to $1,610,480 with the winner’s share here, has
now won five straight, with his only career loss coming in his debut in January
at Gulfstream, where he ran fourth. He broke his maiden next out on March 4,
and, since then, the bay has rattled off easy scores in the Withers S. (G3), Preakness S. (G1) and Jim Dandy S. (G2). The bay has won while leading from
gate-to-wire as well as rallying from off the pace, and could utilize either one
of those tactics when taking on older horses for the first time in Belmont
Park’s Jockey
Club Gold Cup (G1) on October 7 — the next race trainer Tom Albertrani has on his charge’s
calendar.
“A horse like this is great for racing,” Albertrani said. “Cigar got a lot of
attention from the nation and hopefully this horse might too. I think it’s great
for the sport when you see people come out and watch a horse like this compete.
“I’ve been saying it for a while now,” he added. “I put Bernardini in that
category with a horse like Cigar and Dubai Millennium. This horse is only a
three-year-old and he hasn’t even hit his best stride. There’s more to come from
this horse as he gets older.”
And Albertrani should know, considering he was an assistant to Bill Mott when
Cigar tied Citation’s North American record of 16 straight victories.
Sent off the near 2-5 favorite in the six-horse field, Bernardini paid out $2.70,
$2.10 and $2.10 while starting the $5 exacta and $35.20 trifecta (5-7-3).
Bluegrass Cat was much the best of the rest, finishing 6 1/4 lengths in front of Dr.
Pleasure (Thunder Gulch) to return $2.50 and $2.60 at 5-2. Dr. Pleasure ran well
to get third over Hesanoldsalt (Broad Brush), giving back $4.70 as the 40-1 longshot, while High
Cotton and
Minister’s Bid completed the order of finish after the scratch
of Kip Deville (Kipling).
The Kentucky-bred Bernardini is out of Grade 1 winner Cara Rafaela (Quiet
American), who ran second in the 1995 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) and
placed in the next year’s Kentucky Oaks (G1), Ashland S. (G1), Santa Anita Oaks
(G1), Mother Goose S. (G1) and Las Virgenes S. (G1). The 13-year-old mare has
also produced 2002 Santa Anita Oaks third-place runner, Ile de France, an
unraced juvenile filly named Blue Tigress and an unnamed 2006 filly, all three
by Storm Cat.