Four Graded Stakes winners for Bernardini
Leading freshman Bernardini took his number of Graded Stakes winners to four (more than any other first-season sire) in outstanding fashion on November 6 when his son To Honor And Serve posted a wide-margin victory in the G2 Nashua Stakes at Aqueduct.
Sent off the 1-4 favourite, the Bill Mott-trained colt broke smartly and led from the outset and entering the stretch some three lengths in front, cruised home to win by four.
To Honor and Serve is out of the Listed Deputy Minister mare Pilfer, making her a half-sister to fellow G2 winner India. She was bred by Twin Creeks Farm, Larry Byer and Ranch San Miguel in Kentucky and was purchased by her owner, Live Oak Plantation, at Keeneland September in 2009 for $575,000.
Champion Bernardini is the sire of eight other winners from his first crop, including G1 Frizette Stakes winner A Z Warrior, G1 Gran Criterium Stakes winner Biondetti, G3 winner and G1-placed Theyskens’ Theory, plus G1-placed Stay Thirsty.
He is the only stallion ever to sire G1 juvenile winners on both dirt and turf in his first crop.