Bernardini

While the enduring memory of the 2006 Preakness Stakes will be of the cruel injury which struck Barbaro, the remarkable winning effort of Bernardini should not be overlooked. On only his fourth lifetime start, Bernardini produced a dominant display to score by 5¼ lengths from Kentucky Derby favorite, Sweetnorthernsaint, while recording a Beyer Speedfigure which was higher than that achieved by Barbaro in the Derby.
Bernardini’s victory corrected something of an anomaly in the stud career of his sire, A.P. Indy. The leading sire of classic distance U.S. dirt runners over the last decade or so, A.P. Indy had never previously been represented by a winner of one of the Triple Crown events, his nearest efforts being seconds by Aptitude in the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes, and seconds by A P Valentine in the Preakness and Belmont Stakes.

A.P. Indy daughters have had a little more success in the classics, with Secret Status capturing the Kentucky Oaks (G1) and Mother Goose Stakes (G1), and Jilbab the CCA Oaks (G1). Of course, the narrow focus of Triple Crown races aside, A.P. Indy’s record is quite exceptional, a fact which is reflected in his $300,000 stud fee. To date he has 88 stakes winners from his first ten crops, including Horse of the Year Mineshaft, and Champion Two-Year-Old Filly Tempera, and in addition to Bernardini and the two fillies mentioned above, his grade one winners also include the aforementioned Aptitude and A P Valentine, Golden Missile, Symboli Indy, Tomisue’s Delight, Stephen Got Even, Friends Lake, Passing Shot, Sweet Symphony, Runup the Colors, A. P. Adventure and Royal Indy. This year he is also represented by other graded stakes winners, A. P. Warrior and Teammate, both three, and Master Commander, who took the William Donald Schaefer Handicap (G3) on the Preakness Stakes undercard.

One factor which comes to mind with regard to A.P. Indy and the classics is that, even though he was himself a juvenile grade one winner, several of his best offspring have reached their peak, either later in their three-year-old career, or as older horses. In the case of Bernardini, however, a dose of early maturity is supplied by his dam, Cara Rafaela. A member of the first crop of Quiet American, Cara Rafaela was a juvenile standout, winning the Alcibiades Stakes (G2) and Hollywood Starlet Stakes (G1), and taking second in the Matron Stakes (G1) and Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1). Cara Rafaela failed to captured a black-type event at three, but continued to display excellent form, capturing seconds in the Ashland Stakes (G1), Santa Anita Oaks (GI), Las Virgenes Stakes (G1) and Black-Eyed Susan Stakes (G2) (over the same track that her son would earn classic glory ten years later), and thirds in the Kentucky Oaks and Mother Goose Stakes (G1). Sidelined after the Mother Goose, Cara Rafaela was much less effective when she returned at four, although she did add a win in the restricted Pico Pico Stakes at Fairplex Park. She produced four foals prior to Bernardini, the best of which was her first offspring, the Santa Anita Oaks (G1) third, Ile de France (by Storm Cat).

Cara Rafaela was half-sister to another very talented performer in Abaginone. A son of Devil’s Bag, Abaginone combined brilliant speed with glass-like legs. Indeed, such was his fragility, that he faced the starter just ten times in three years of racing. He won seven of those ten starts, and put up some memorable displays, including in the Los Angeles Handicap (G3), where he set breathtaking fractions, only to be caught late by that year’s Breeders’ Cup (G1) runner-up, Paying Dues, who forced a dead-heat, and the Portero Grande Handicap (G3), where he recorded a 116 Beyer as he crossed the line six lengths clear of the runner-up, grade one winner Dramatic Gold, with that year’s Champion Sprinter Lit de Justice off the board. Abaginone retired to stand at stud inexpensively in New York, and after a slow start had a big year in 2005 when he was represented by grade one winner Acey Deucey and graded stakes winner Uncle Cammie.However, this run came too late to rescue Abaginone’s U.S. career, as he was sold to Mexico in 2003. Oil Fable, the dam of Cara Rafaela and Abaginone, was only a minor winner, but owned an excellent pedigree, as she was by Spectacular Bid out of Northern Dancer’s graded stakes winning daughter, Northern Fable. The next dam, Fairway Fable, a stakes winning daughter of Never Bend, is grandam of English group winner, Majmu, and third dam of Muhtathir, a group one winning miler in France, and Hook and Ladder, a dual graded stakes winning sprinter by Dixieland Band, who is now at stud in New York.
It’s an often stated fact that A.P. Indy’s sire, Seattle Slew, and Mr. Prospector came from the same immediate female line (Seattle Slew’s grandam, being inbred to that family), and that the pair have frequently worked well together. This is particularly so for A.P. Indy, who has sired at least 28 stakes winners on the cross, including Bernardini, and other grade one winners Sweet Symphony, A. P. Adventure, Jilbab, Tomisue’s Delight and Mineshaft. What is interesting here, however, is that other than Capote, until the arrival of A.P. Indy, Seattle Slew and his sons had not flourished with mares descending from Mr. Prospector through Fappiano (other than by Capote, or an A.P. Indy line horse, there is only one graded stakes winner by a Seattle Slew line stallion out of Fappiano line mare). A.P. Indy, however has recently been flourishing with the Fappiano line. He has grade one winner A. P. Adventure and Japanese grade three winner Aratama Indy out of Fappiano mares, and in his current three-year-old crop, Bernardini and San Felipe Stakes (G2) victor, A. P. Warrior, out of mares by Quiet American, and the Bonnie Miss Stakes (G2) captress, Teammate, out of a mare by another Fappiano son, Rubiano.
Quiet American might particularly be playing into the La Troienne background in A.P. Indy’s pedigree. Seattle Slew’s dam has the sisters Striking and Busher 3 x 3, and A.P. Indy’s second dam is by Buckpasser, who is out of Busanda, a three-parts-sister to Striking and Busher (all three being by War Admiral out of daughters of La Troienne). Quiet American is inbred 3 x 2 to Dr. Fager, whose broodmare sire, Better Self, is by La Troienne’s son, Bimelech, out of a War Admiral mare.