Castellano is one lucky rider
 

Although he is not of the status of Edgar Prado or John Velazquez on the East coast, the one thing that he can say for himself is that he has rode three of the most talented horses that have graced a racetrack in the last five years....Ghostzapper, Bellamy Road, and now Bernardini...and I believe he would tell anyone who would listen that Bernardini is the best of the three when it is all said and done...

Unbelievable.

Better then Zapper, come on...And you are a sheet player so you KNOW how fast Zap used to run

Not yet of the caliber of EP or JV, but I wouldn't call him "lucky".
I'd call him "skilled".

You know what I meant....he is obviously a good rider...

The thing is though, Zapper was running fast as an older horse with several starts under his belt, while Bernardini is still impriving with every start - yet he won a Classic with ease in his 4th lifetime start and then came back and had a public workout against a decent bunch of 3YOs yesterday....

Sheets are only good for evaluating a caliber level of horses that you haven't seen run before...non-mainstream horses....But, for top class horses that are in the spotlight for everyone to watch, good horse analysts don't need to see any quantifiable figure to see the brilliance in a horses and his performances.....he's a beast..

Not to undermine the Zapper, but he didn't exactly blow away Roses in May in the '04 BC Classic......and I think Bernardini would urinate on Roses in May in any race at any time...

Bernardini could be as good or better than Zapper....no doubt in my mind about that...

I feel like the reason you think Bernardini "could urinate" on Roses in May is because you just saw him win impressively yesterday.

Come on, Joel...

Roses in May was really fast, and won the world's richest horse race impressively in the Dubai World Cup.

I guess you think Bernardini could urinate on Pleasantly Perfect and Electrocutionist also.... I mean, they didn't win the Jim Dandy so obviously....

This horse has won TWO races of any significance

I was never that impressed with Roses in May. He beat the hanging Perfect Drift in the Whitney, he ran a decent but very non threatening 2nd in the Classic. He won the Cornhusker, whatever that means. He won a very watered down Dubai WOrld Cup against a bunch of over teh top turf horses, whoopitdooo.

Bernardini is already a better horse and has the potential to be up there with Ghostzapper and Skip Away someday, if these guys keep him on the racetrack.

We want ver know just how good he will be if he goes on and wins the BC this year. Whale if he wins the BC it will show a very nice horse but we will never know his true greatness. They wil retire him with only 6 total races and a great horse needs more than 5 total wins.

Yep, but he won them in his 4th and 5th lifetime starts...that is what isd so impressive...he has been totally untested since he broke his maiden and isn't even at his best yet....the scary thing is that he'll only get better...

I completely agree.....Roses in May never beat anything in his career IMO...

I have to agree with Joel, Bernardini is going to be better than Ghostzapper. I don't see him losing again this year.

As for Castellano, he did make one mistake this year. He chose Corinthian over Showing Up and lost the mount to C. Velasquez. He could be riding the top dirt horse and grass horse if he stuck with Showing Up.

The way he won that race yesterday reminds me of the way Ghostzapper won his races towards the end of his career. Both tremenbdous talents, pretty obvious but remains to be seen just how long Bernardini will be on the racetrack. Lets hope a while.

Was thinking Strong Contender would be a great bet in the Travers but after watching Berardini yesterday, I may as well flush my money down the toilet and save the standing in the heat & humidity all day long.

Can't see him losing again? I guess you should jump on the 4-1 future odds at http://www.wsex.com/cgi/zshow_bets?44381 on Bernardini winning the BCC! Even if there's just a 50% chance he makes the race, you'd be getting an effective 2-1. That's pretty good for a horse you can't see losing. (I truly apologize for my tone, but statements like "can't see him losing" drive me slightly crazy.)

I can personally see lots of ways Bernardini can lose. Maybe 100 ways, even. The easiest ways, however, are Flower Alley, Lava Man, and Invasor.

That's not to say that I don't like this horse. I like him a LOT. He's run 2 huge races. But I'm not even close to being ready to annoint him the 2nd coming of Spectacular Bid. To argue his superiority over Roses In May and Ghostzapper is ridiculous, IMO. (As if the field in the Jim Dandy can be compared with the Dubai race or RIM's BCC!)

--Dunbar

btw, if you DO want BCC future action on Bernardini, you'd almost certainly do better waiting for Pinnacle and TheGreek to post their odds.

I'll stick with betting on the race on race day. Right now I really like Flower Alley in the Whitney, Showing Up in the Secretariat, and Henny Huges in the Kings Bishop. I don't see how any lose and I think all go off around 3-2. I am thinking about a 3 horse parlay, maybe turn $1000 into $15-16,000.

I still don't know what the fuss is over Flower Alley. I can understand with Lava Man, although a lot of that is his versatility and his rise from claiming fame. But are the connections of Bernardini worried about Flower Alley or Invasor? I doubt it. Are the connections of FA and Invasor worried about Bernardini? If they aren't, they should be.

I agree, I'll take Bernardini over Flower Alley anyday. Lava Man and Invasor are much better than Flower Alley in my opinion.

Gee, he only ran a close 2nd to the best horse last year as a 3yo...

With a carefully planned campaign and given he may improve as a 4yo, he'll be very difficult to deal with and you better have your A game to beat him...

Whenever Lava Man can take his game on the road and win, that's when I will take notice. I admire him, but gutting out wins against Ace Blue, doesn't get me excited....

It's hard to say right now who will win between Bernardini and Flower Alley, they both have upside...

You and I have been agreeing on this for awhile now...The horse we have all been waiting for has arrived. A great horse as great as the big ones of the 1970's. We all thought he was Barbaro, but in fact, the one that we waited for came into greatness under our noses in the Preakness. Bernardini is a monster and a freak. He is the only horse that has completely left me speechless after a race. Bring Flower Alley on. He won't beat this horse. No horse will as long as Bernardini runs his race. Bernardini has the best gallop I have ever seen. It is so fluid and powerful. He could have won by 25 lenghts this weekend if Javier would have asked him to go.

Yes, he is here...finally. Enjoy him.

Are you related to Gary Stevens?

Oh my dear lord... I can't get over how dramatic this post was. Honest to God...