Look Back: Bernardini's Dandy Score at Saratoga

In conjunction with Tom Hall's Throwback Thursday features in BloodHorse Daily, BloodHorse.com each Thursday will present corresponding race stories from the pages of the magazine. This week is a recap of the 2006 Jim Dandy Stakes (G2) at Saratoga Race Course won by Bernardini. The story, written by Steve Haskin, carried the headline “Dandy Score,” and subhead: “Bernardini makes easy work of the field in the Jim Dandy, his first start since the much talked about Preakness Stakes,” and appeared in the Aug. 5, 2006 issue of the magazine.

For Darley Stable’s Bernardini, what started out as a quest for respect has now turned into a quest for greatness. He obviously still has a ways to go before entering the realm of the greats, but there were few people at Saratoga Race Course July 29 who didn’t have that word pass through their mind, even for a brief moment.

Judging by the cheers that poured out of the grandstand following the colt’s spectacular victory in the Jim Dandy Stakes (gr. II) and the accolades that followed, it looks as if even the cynics finally are intent on paying tribute to racing’s newest phenom and removing him forever form the shadow of Barbaro.

All through the Saratoga backstretch the morning after the race, one of the main topics of conversation was if only Bernardini and Barbaro could have hooked each other in the Preakness Stakes (gr. I).

But Barbaro has other battles to worry about. On the racetrack, it is now all about Bernardini, who won the Jim Dandy by nine lengths coming off a 10-week layoff, giving eight pounds to the second-, third-, and fourth-place finishers, and running on a heavy, sticky track that was turned sloppy by an afternoon deluge. So effortless was his performance, racecaller Tom Durkin seemed stunned when he bellowed, “Look at this! He didn’t raise a sweat and it’s 90 degrees.”

The following morning, veterinarian Mark Cheney went over to trainer Tom Albertrani and said, “Hey listen, if you need a jock, holler. Even I could have ridden that sonofagun.”

Even the Equibase chart-caller got caught up in the ease of the victory, with the redundant comment: “galloped under wraps.”

In his last four starts, all victories, Bernardini’s average winning margin is 6 ½ lengths. He’s won coming off the pace, pressing the pace, and setting the pace. He’s won at four different racetracks, at three different distances, and on fast and sloppy surfaces. So, is there anything the son of A.P. Indy, out of Cara Rafaela, by Quiet American, can’t do?

The answer at this stage of his brief career appears to be ‘no.’

“A horse like him doesn’t come around too often,” Albertrani said. “I just think this is a special horse; I’ve been saying that all along.”

Jimmy Bell, president of Darley USA, added, “He just makes it look so easy, and that stride down the lane was unbelievable. All I can say is we’re very lucky.”

From a speed standpoint, Bernardini’s Beyer Speed Figures are heading into orbit. Now that it has been established that Bernardini is a budding super-horse, the question is: Who will be foolhardy enough to take him on in the $1 million Travers Stakes (gr. I) Aug. 26?

Well, for a million bucks, don’t count on a walkover. In fact, the Midsummer Derby could attract as many as four horses just from Saturday’s card at Saratoga. Two of them are from the barn of John Ward Jr., whose Minister’s Bid and Dr. Pleasure finished second and fourth, respectively, in the Jim Dandy.

According to Ward’s wife, Donna, who has been training both colts at Saratoga, they each had to overcome a bizarre ordeal in the detention barn the afternoon of the Jim Dandy. Dr. Pleasure had to cope with being dive-bombed by a protective mother barn swallow that had a nest of babies in the colt’s stall, while Minister Bid all but freaked out due to the annoying presence of a bumblebee in his stall.

“We gave a thought to scratching Minister’s Bid and sending him instead to the Haskell (gr. I) next week,” Donna Ward said. “Dr. Pleasure eventually mellowed out, but Minister’s Bid lost it. I thought it was just a random bee, but even the vet said, ‘Be very careful; I got stung in the eye by that bee.’ Minister’s Bid is a big, tough, horse and if he had gotten stung he would’ve been out of there. We would have been chasing him to Albany.”

But Ward said she and her husband were happy with the colts’ performances and expect them to improve in the Travers. Minister’s Bid had only run twice in his career, winning both races impressively.

It was Minister’s Bid who stalked the 1-2 Bernardini through fractions of :23.89, :47.36, and 1:11.33. Sunriver, who had been battling with Minister’s Bid for second, quickly dropped out of it, and when Edgar Prado began showing Minister’s Bid the whip and gave him a left-handed crack leaving the five-sixteenths pole, it was obvious the race was all but over. Javier Castellano had barely moved on Bernardini. He looked over his left shoulder and then his right at the top of the stretch, while keeping his colt about four paths off the rail. Dr. Pleasure made what appeared to be a threatening move on the far outside, but when Castellano remained motionless on Bernardini and looked over his right shoulder again at the three-sixteenths pole, that was when everyone knew it was just a matter of how many lengths he would win by.

Despite being geared down completely the entire length of the stretch and remaining in a common gallop, Bernardini, who also was bred by Sheikh Mohammed’s Darley, drew off with every fluid stride and just coasted home the easiest of winners, covering the 1 1/8 miles in 1:50.50 over the bog-like track. Minister’s Bid battled back for second, out-dueling the Nick Zito-trained Hemingway’s Key, who finished a length ahead of Dr. Pleasure in the six-horse field.

“He came back in great shape, as if he’d never even run,” Albertrani said the following morning as Bernardini devoured a large batch of clover. “I think this put a lot of doubts to rest about his Preakness performance. Maybe now he can pick up where Barbaro left off. There’s been a lot of anticipation from the Preakness to the Jim Dandy for him to show everybody just what a talented horse he really is.”

Perhaps Bell spoke for everyone when he said, “It’s a privilege and a thrill to watch him run.”