Bernardini (horse)

Bernardini (March 23, 2003 – July 30, 2021) was a champion American Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 2006 Preakness Stakes and Travers Stakes.

Bernardini
SireA.P. Indy
GrandsireSeattle Slew
DamCara Rafaela
DamsireQuiet American
SexStallion
FoaledMarch 23, 2003
DiedJuly 30, 2021(2021-07-30) (aged 18)
CountryUnited States
ColourBay
BreederDarley Stud
OwnerDarley Stable
TrainerThomas Albertrani
Record8: 6-1-0
Earnings$3,060,480
Major wins
Jockey Club Gold Cup (2006)
Withers Stakes (2006)
Jim Dandy Stakes (2006)
Travers Stakes (2006) Triple Crown classic race wins:
Preakness Stakes (2006)
Awards
U.S. Champion 3-Yr-Old Colt (2006)
Co-World Champion 3-Year-Old (2006)
Last updated on January 23, 2007

Background

A son of A.P. Indy, he is out of Cara Rafaela, who won almost a million dollars during her racing career. Her sire was Quiet American, who also produced Real Quiet, a horse that came within a nose of winning the 1998 Triple Crown.

Bernardini was trained by Thomas Albertrani. He was owned by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of Dubai.

Racing career

Bernardini's racing career began at age three at Gulfstream Park where he finished 4th in a maiden race. After a lung infection kept him from racing for 2 months, he came back with a 73⁄4 length win in a Maiden Special Weight over one mile at Gulfstream. On April 29, he easily won the Grade III Withers Stakes prior to going to the Preakness. Bernardini won the 2006 Preakness Stakes by 51⁄4 lengths in a time of 1:54.65, in the same race where Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro suffered the hind leg fracture that ultimately led to the Derby winner's death.

After his Preakness win, Sheikh Mohammed decided that Bernardini would not race in the June 10 Belmont Stakes, which meant that for only the 4th time in 60 years, neither the Kentucky Derby winner nor the Preakness winner was in the field. A spokesman for Sheikh Mohammed's Darley Stable said that "...(Bernardini) climbed the ladder of competition quite quickly" and that "he deserves the break." Bernardini returned to the races on July 30 at Saratoga Race Course with a 10-length victory in the Jim Dandy Stakes over Minister's Bid. On August 26, 2006, he won the Travers Stakes, also in Saratoga, by 7 lengths over Haskell Invitational winner and Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes runner-up, Bluegrass Cat. In the October 7 Jockey Club Gold Cup, Bernardini earned a 117 Beyer figure in a winning effort.

In the 2006 Breeders' Cup Classic at Churchill Downs, Bernardini tracked near the lead and passed the frontrunner, Brother Derek, at the quarter pole. He fought to hold off Invasor at the sixteenth pole but fell short by a length, finishing second.

He won the Eclipse Award for 3 Year Old Male of the Year for 2006 and was retired to stud at Darley.

Stud record

Bernardini has sired 16 individual Group/Grade 1 winners.

He was euthanised at Jonabell Farm in Kentucky on the 30 July 2021 due to complications from laminitis.[1]

Notable progeny

c = colt, f = filly, g = gelding

Foaled Name Sex Major Wins
2008 A Z Warrior f Frizette Stakes
2008 Biondetti c Premio Gran Criterium
2008 Stay Thirsty c Travers Stakes, Cigar Mile Handicap
2008 To Honor And Serve c Cigar Mile Handicap, Woodward Stakes
2009 Alpha c Travers Stakes, Woodward Stakes
2009 Boban g Epsom Handicap, Emirates Stakes, Chipping Norton Stakes, Doomben 10,000, Memsie Stakes
2010 Ruud Awakening f Diamond Stakes
2011 Dame Dorothy f Humana Distaff Stakes
2011 Go Indy Go f Champagne Stakes
2012 Cavorting f Test Stakes, Ogden Phipps Stakes, Personal Ensign Stakes
2013 Greenpointcrusader c Champagne Stakes
2013 Rachel's Valentina f Spinaway Stakes
2014 Capezzano g Al Maktoum Challenge, Round 3
2014 Takaful c Vosburgh Stakes
2015 Angela Renee f Chandelier Stakes
2017 Art Collector c Woodward Stakes, Pegasus World Cup
2017 West Will Power c Stephen Foster Stakes

Bernardini's success as a sire has attracted many top broodmares and racemares. On January 26, 2011, Jerry Moss and his wife Ann announced that Bernardini would be the first mate of the 2010 Horse of the Year when Zenyatta was booked to him later that season. She foaled a colt, Cozmic One, in March 2012. He has been a disappointment on the track, finishing badly in both of his starts. Zenyatta's dam and 2008 Kentucky Broodmare of the Year Vertigineux produced a debut-winning Bernardini filly named Eblouissante in 2009.

Visiting Bernardini in 2012 were 2009 Horse of the Year and American Champion Three-Year-Old Filly Rachel Alexandra and 2010 American Champion Three-Year-Old Filly Blind Luck. The 2013 filly produced by Rachel Alexandra, Rachel's Valentina, is a Grade I stakes winner and was runner-up to American Champion Two-Year-Old Filly Songbird, and widely considered the second-best two-year old of either gender in 2015.

Bernardini was euthanized on July 30, 2021, after complications from laminitis. He was 18.[2]

Racing record
Date Race Track Location Distance Surface Condition Finish
January 7, 2006 Maiden Special Weight Gulfstream Park Hallandale Beach, Florida 6 fur. Dirt Fast 4th
March 4, 2006 Maiden Special Weight Gulfstream Park Hallandale Beach, Florida 1 mi. Dirt Fast 1st
April 29, 2006 Withers Stakes Aqueduct Racetrack New York City, New York 1 mi. Dirt Fast 1st
May 20, 2006 Preakness Stakes Pimlico Race Course Baltimore, Maryland 13⁄16 mi. Dirt Fast 1st
July 30, 2006 Jim Dandy Stakes Saratoga Race Course Saratoga Springs, New York 11⁄8 mi. Dirt Sloppy 1st
August 26, 2006 Travers Stakes Saratoga Race Course Saratoga Springs, New York 11⁄4 mi. Dirt Fast 1st
October 7, 2006 Jockey Club Gold Cup Belmont Park Elmont, New York 11⁄4 mi. Dirt Fast 1st
November 4, 2006 Breeders' Cup Classic Churchill Downs Louisville, Kentucky 11⁄4 mi. Dirt Fast 2nd

Pedigree
Pedigree of Bernardini
Sire
A.P. Indy		 Seattle Slew Bold Reasoning Boldnesian
Reason to Earn
My Charmer Poker
Fair Charmer
Weekend Surprise Secretariat Bold Ruler
Somethingroyal
Lassie Dear Buckpasser
Gay Missile
Dam
Cara Rafaela		 Quiet American Fappiano Mr. Prospector
Killaloe
Demure Dr. Fager
Quiet Charm
Oil Fable Spectacular Bid Bold Bidder
Spectacular
Northern Fable Northern Dancer
Fareway Fable

References
  1. "Leading stallion Bernardini dies". racing.com. Retrieved 8 September 2021.
  2. "Bernardini Succumbs to Laminitis at Age 18". Blood-Horse. July 30, 2021. Retrieved July 31, 2021.
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