Barbaro (the Champ)

[kentuckyrosesinmay]

Originally Posted by DaHoss9698

All of this is heresay until we see what happens now. But, I find it hard to believe that people not at least think Barbaro and Bernardini are at least on even terms now when it comes to 3 year old voting. Cajun, you seem like a very nice person, but seriously what does Bernardini need to do? This is 3 year old racing in the summer months, small fields. If your criteria for a quality race is having a big field, take a look at this years Florida derby. 11 horse field, with Barbaro, Sunriver, who aside from the win in the Peter pan, has done nothing, and Sharp humor, a horse who wants no part of 1 1/8. The rest of the field is pretty bad. So in reality Barbaro was beating 2 okay horses. I'm not trying to take anything away from barbaro, but to say Bernardini still has to prove something is asinine. You also say he has had nothing but a perfect set up, yeah he has because he dictates the race to everyone else. I'm pretty sure he can run effectively from off the pace, all he did was win the Preakness from off the pace. I think he was on the lead in the Travers because he could. Castellano saw that the two from Pletcher were going to gang up, anbd he just let him go, ala Ghostzapper. We should be enjoying this horse right now, because he may be the best in a long time.

I think that many on this board are looking at Barbaro vs. Bernardini subjectively instead of objectively. I agree with you in that the two are pretty even as far as voting goes. I think that many are overly biased towards Barbaro for emotional and sympathetic reasons. It's as if they can't acknowledge the coming of a potential superhorse because the downfall of another. I won't point out any specific posters, but their arguements are weak, ignorant, hypocritical, or contradictory to the facts. I'm not saying that all of the pro-Barbaro or pro-Bernardini posters are like that...just a few. However, many of the top trainers in the industry are saying that Bernardini is one for the ages and that he would be their pick at this point for the three year old championship. That is a FACT. At this point, I believe that everyone should also just enjoy this horse. He may very well be the next Spectacular Bid, and those kinds of horses are irreplaceable.

Here are some examples of how great some think Bernardini is...

"I think right now whatever he did today, I don't think any horse can beat this horse right now," said winning rider Javier Castellano, who began celebrating his victory at the sixteenth pole.

Winning trainer Tom Albertrani said: "This horse gets better every race. I think he'll be a very tough horse later in the season against the older horses."

"I wanted all the people to recognize that he's a special horse and he's the best 3-year-old right now in the country," Castellano said.

"We know how special a horse Barbaro was, but this certainly showed to us after yesterday how great Bernardini is as well," Tom Albertrani, the trainer of Bernardini, said Sunday morning. "With all of his performances, he always wins by daylight, and I think you have to give him a lot of consideration."

"Bernardini is the 3-year-old champ to me," said Kiaran McLaughlin, the trainer of Belmont Stakes winner Jazil. "That's my opinion, everybody has one. I have a lot of respect for Barbaro. He's done it on both surfaces, dirt and turf. But this horse is just awesome. He has a presence about him. He's just a very, very special horse."

"It's hard to top what Invasor has done, but he is not the horse Bernardini is," Zito said. "Bernardini could beat Invasor five furlongs, six furlongs, a mile and a half, two miles, two and a half miles. He could beat him any day of the week."

"I was just praying he would show up as the phenomenal horse I know him to be — and he did," trainer Tom Albertrani said. "He's just getting sharper every race. It's pretty scary."

"The way he's running, as long as he stays healthy and is on top of his game he's going to be a very serious horse," Albertrani said Sunday morning outside his barn. "When he faces older horses, he'll still be the one to fear. There's more to this horse than we've seen."

"Bernardini is definitely my choice to be a champion," said trainer John Ward, who chased him in vain in the Travers with third-place finisher Dr. Pleasure and with Minister's Bid, who was last in the field of six. "He took on Bluegrass Cat and put him away, and he said goodbye to the rest of them."

"We'll, he's never been challenged," Albertrani said. "Right now, he's been winning by daylight. I don't know how much he's got left until he is challenged. Javier couldn't pull him up after the wire. The more racing he has, the better he's getting."