Barbaro (the Champ)

[Cajungator26]

Originally Posted by King Glorious

It's not a knock on the ability of Barbaro. I think he was a really good horse also. I just think Bernardini is in a different league. I could be wrong though. I think Bernardini has been one-upping Barbaro from the start though. I know it's only one way of measuring things but look at the Beyer's for the two horses. In his final TC prep, Barbaro got a 103 in the Florida Derby. Bernardini got a 104 in the Withers. Barbaro breaks out with a career high 111 in the Derby. Bernardini gets a 113 in the Preakness. Think about that for a second here. As awesome as Barbaro was in winning the Derby, he would have had to come up with an even better performance figurewise in order to have beaten Bernardini that day. Could he have done it? Nobody knows but I believe that Bernardini wins that race even if Barbaro doesn't break down. Bernardini comes back with a 114 in the Jim Dandy and a 116 in the Travers. That's now three races in a row that he's bested Barbaro's career best. Career average Beyer....Barbaro 96.8, Bernardini 100.8 How about using Bluegrass Cat as a measuring stick. Barbaro beats him by 6 1/2 at 10f. Bernardini beat him by 7 1/2. This is supposedly when Bluegrass Cat is a much improved horse.

It's entirely possible that Barbaro wasn't at his peak and could have improved even more. I don't know if that's true or not but what I do believe IS true is that Barbaro would have HAD to improve more to reach the level that Bernardini is at now. And Bernardini still hasn't even been asked to run.

Although beyers are a useful tool, I'm not big on them. I'd rather look at the sheets. I'll agree to disagree with you... I'm not sold on Bernardini yet.