Gary Contessa cuts Bernie the Jet back to sprints
Leonard C. Green, Sean Shay, and McConnell Racing Stable owned 2-year-old colt, Bernie the Jet, ever since breaking his maiden at seven furlongs this year, has never returned to the sprint distance, and his connections were determined to make the colt into a distance horse, but trainer Gary C. Contessa realized the fact that the Bernstein colt might as well be better suited over sprint distances.
The conditioner will find that out, as he sends out his juvenile colt to run in the five furlong $54,500 allowance optional claimer for 2-year-olds run at Gulfstream Park’s turf course on 20 December, 2012.
Bred in Kentucky by Keene Ridge Racing, Bernie the Jet, will go up against an accomplished Wesley Ward trained stakes winning duo, the 2-year-old gelding Rip Roarin Ritchie and Ice Wine Stable’s Skylander.
Out of Amaretta by Woodman, Bernie the Jet, has been dwelling in two-turn turf races without much luck, as he is recently exiting sixth place finish in the Super Mario Stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack going 1 1/16 miles.
Prior to that defeat, Bernie the Jet conjured up his best finish over longer distances, when he ran over a mile in the Incurable Optimist Stakes at Belmont Park’s turf course, and there he finished second to winner Notacatbutallama, but it wasn’t a good run by any means, as he set the pace in the 1 mile test but faded badly to finish 10 lengths behind the winner.
“It’s obvious his best distance is probably seven furlongs,” said Contessa, who sent a half-dozen horses down from New York for the winter. “Even though he ran second going a mile in that stakes, it was more like he was just hanging on at the end rather than finishing strong. He looks like a sprinter – he’s 16 hands, but built like a tank – and he acts like a sprinter, but I never really had a real chance to sprint him on the turf in New York. I can have that opportunity with him this winter in Florida.”
The good thing for Bernie the Jet in sprint races will be that he will not have to set the pace, as he has been doing in longer distances, and has an opportunity to show his connections that he is not a one-dimensional horse.
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