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Bernardini wins Preakness marred by Barbaro's breakdown The first indication that the 131st running of the Preakness S. (G1) wasn't going as planned came when Barbaro (Dynaformer) broke through the starting gate prior to the race. Quickly caught by the outrider and returned to his position, Barbaro settled down and waited for the gates to open, breaking cleanly when the bells rang. The field hadn't even reached the first turn when the jubilant crowd suddenly let out a roar of horror. Barbaro unexpectedly started backing up and that's when everyone saw jockey Edgar Prado desperately trying to pull his mount up. As the rest of the field kept going, Prado finally got Barbaro stopped, leaving a clear view of the horse's injured right hind ankle. Dr. Larry Bramlage reported after the race had ended that the Kentucky Derby (G1) winner had suffered a condylar fracture above his right hind ankle as well as another fracture below the ankle, and was going to be moved to the New Bolton Center near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. "The problems (this injury) brings up are two-fold," Bramlage explained. "One, there is significant danger to the blood supply to the lower limb. That's the one you worry about the most as far as this being a life-threatening injury. Equally as important is that it's an injury that you or I would be put in bed for six weeks before we were allowed to walk on it, and that's impossible to do with a horse. It's going to take some sort of major stabilizing surgery. This is a significant injury, and there are at least a couple of things that are very life-threatening for him. "His career is over. This will be it for him as a racehorse. Under the best circumstances, we're looking to save him as a stallion." Even as the drama was unfolding at the start, the rest of the Preakness field continued on their journey. Darley Stable's BERNARDINI (A.P. Indy) settled into a perfect stalking position just in behind the leaders and unleashed his powerful run down the stretch to take the race by 5 1/4 lengths under Javier Castellano. Making just his fourth career start, the highly regarded colt stopped the teletimer for 1 3/16 miles on the fast track in 1:54 3/5. Like Now (Jules), quickest from the gate, led the way through splits of :23 1/5 and :46 3/5, with Sweetnorthernsaint (Sweetsouthernsaint) and Bernardini not far back. Entering the backstretch, the eventual winner settled into fourth racing just off the rail as Like Now continued his pacesetting duties through six furlongs in 1:10 1/5.
"The horse was feeling so great all week, he was training very well," Castellano said. "He was really, really sharp today. He broke on top. He showed a lot of speed. He's the kind of horse you can go to the lead and run off the pace." Bernardini began his career late compared to his sophomore compatriots, making his debut in a six-furlong Gulfstream Park maiden on January 7. He finished fourth that day, but quickly showed he just needed more distance when taking his next one on March 4 by an easy 7 3/4 lengths. With such a late start, and no possibility of getting into the Derby, trainer Thomas Albertrani ran his charge in the Withers S. (G3) at Aqueduct and was rewarded with another easy score. Bernardini rallied from second that day to take over and pull away for the 3 3/4-length score."I think he just came into his own," Albertrani said. "We just felt that he could probably compete at this level, knowing that Barbaro was the horse to beat. This horse just blossomed and matured so much in the last couple of months that he was just beginning to get better and better." With the winner's share of the $1 million Preakness, Bernardini has now accumulated $710,480 in lifetime earnings to go along with his 4-3-0-0 career mark. Bred in Kentucky, the homebred Bernardini is out of the Grade 1-winning Cara Rafaela (Quiet American), who captured the 1995 Hollywood Starlet S. (G1) prior to a runner-up finish in that year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1). During her sophomore career, Cara Rafaela earned seconds in the Ashland S. (G1), Santa Anita Oaks (G1) and Las Virgenes S. (G1) as well as thirds in the Kentucky Oaks (G1) and Mother Goose S. (G1). Her first registered foal, Ile de France (Storm Cat), ran third in the 2002 Santa Anita Oaks (G1), and Cara Rafaela has also produced an unraced juvenile filly named White Tiger and a 2006 filly, both by Storm Cat.
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