Bernardini: Swiftest to 50

Becomes fastest ever to reach 50 Stakes winners and 29 Graded winners as a broodmare sire

The win by the three-year-old colt Du Jour in the G2 American Turf Stakes on Derby Day 2021 at Churchill marked the 50th career Black Type winner for Bernardini as a broodmare sire, a milestone that put him in rarified air as the fastest to ever achieve that number. In addition, he has also been represented by the dams of 29 Graded Stakes winners, also fastest to that total than any other broodmare sire in history.

His first G1 winner as a broodmare sire came in 2017 when two-year-old Mo Town won the Hollywood Derby. Catholic Boy followed in 2018 with victories in the G1 Travers and Belmont Derby Invitational. But 2019 was a breakout year with a total of five winners at the highest level, including future Darley stallion Maxfield who was among the best two-year-olds that year:

Dunbar Road: Alabama Stakes
Hunter O'Riley: United Nations
Maxfield (by Street Sense): Breeders' Futurity (pictured below)
Serengeti Empress: Kentucky Oaks
Wicked Whisper: Frizette Stakes

Future Darley stallion Maxfield

Since 2019, he's been represented by three additional G1 winners as a broodmare sire, including Nyquist's Gretzky the Great, recent winner of Canada's 2020 Sovereign Award as that country's best two-year-old colt, and two-time 2021 G1 winner Colonel Liam:

Colonel Liam: Pegasus World Cup Turf, Turf Classic
Gretzky the Great (by Nyquist): Summer Stakes
Paris Lights: Coaching Club American Oaks

The combined list of 36 G1 wins or places by his grandsons and granddaughters also includes such high-level fixtures as:

Apple Blossom
Ballerina Stakes
Breeders' Cup Distaff (twice)
Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint
Clark Stakes (twice)
Ogden Phipps (twice)
Personal Ensign
Preakness Stakes
Santa Anita Handicap
Spinster Stakes

Gretzky the Great