Seventeen Years Ago with Bernardini, Now First Mission

BALTIMORE -- The Godolphin team had Saturday’s 148th Preakness Stakes in mind when they nominated First Mission to the Triple Crown. To put that bit of handicapping in perspective, the decision to make First Mission eligible to the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes for the $600 early nomination fee was made right at the Jan. 28 deadline. The colt was still three weeks away from making his debut on Feb. 18 - and the Preakness was only two months after that.

“Brad had sort of worked back from the Preakness for a while there,” Godolphin USA’s Director of Bloodstock Michael Banahan, referencing trainer Brad Cox. "You only get one opportunity to try to win one of those Triple Crown races, and obviously we weren’t going to make the Derby. But we thought if we cleared all the hurdles there was the possibility we might make the Preakness.”

A tight timetable, to be sure. But Godolphin had been there, done that with Bernardini.

Seventeen years ago, when Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed campaigned his horses under the Darley banner that transformed into Godolphin, the operation earned its first Triple Crown victory with Bernardini in the 2006 Preakness. Like First Mission, Bernardini did not race as a 2-year-old. He likewise lost his first start, won his second and then took a graded stakes in his third before going on to the Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown at historic Pimlico Race Course.

While the Tom Albertrani-trained Bernardini won Aqueduct’s Withers Stakes (G3) before the 1 3/16-mile Preakness, First Mission captured Keeneland’s Stonestreet Lexington Stakes (G3) in his most recent start.

“Obviously we’d have liked to have had him start last year,” Banahan said. “But it’s uncanny the way it’s come together: both get beat in their first start, then win their maiden and a graded stakes race and then headed toward the Preakness. With First Mission we still have lots of ground to cover. We’re just starting the journey, where with hindsight we know what a great racehorse Bernardini was - one of the best we’ve ever raced. (But) at the time we were taking a chance and hoped he was up to that standard. We’re probably doing the same with First Mission.”

First Mission came out of his five-eighths mile work in 59.20 seconds Saturday in good order and will ship with the rest of the Cox horses to Baltimore after training Monday. He  won’t be the 12-1 odds that Bernardini went off in the Preakness, with the ill-fated Derby winner Barbaro the odds-on favorite. The Lexington winner figures to be no worse than second choice behind Derby winner Mage.

First Mission’s timetable was even tighter than for Bernardini, whose first race was Jan. 7.

“He’s given all the vibes that he has a lot of talent,” Banahan said. “We saw that even last year, when we were getting him over the juvenile issues he had and getting him back to Johnny Burke on Rice Road (Godolphin’s barn at Keeneland’s year-round training center). Even though he was only working three-eighths of a mile, he was showing Johnny plenty of stuff as well. When he went into Brad, he only worked him once or twice and he mentioned, ‘This horse looks like he has plenty of talent’ and the more he did with him the more he liked him.”

Still, they didn’t expect First Mission to win when he made his start sprinting at the Fair Grounds. Yet he almost did, losing by three-quarters of a length to well-regarded stablemate Bishops Bay. Stretched out to 1 1/16 miles, First Mission won by 6 3/4 lengths. That made him the favorite for the Lexington Stakes at the same distance, resulting in a half-length victory over Pimlico’s Sir Barton contender Arabian Lion, with Louisiana Derby runner-up and Preakness entrant Disarm another 4 1/4 lengths back in third. (Disarm wound up finishing fourth in the Derby.)

“He had to overcome a little bit of adversity down the stretch,” Banahan said of First Mission’s Lexington. “Not that you were looking for that to happen, but he probably got a lot of experience out of doing that, getting tightened up down on the rail. Hopefully that will help him next time he runs.

“We still have to step up. The Lexington was a Grade 3 race. It was a step up from breaking his maiden. Then in just your fourth start into a classic race is a pretty ambitious step. But it’s probably easier to do now than 15 years ago, with a lot of lightly raced horses taking that path. We saw that in the Kentucky Derby” when Mage prevailed in only his fourth career start.

Cox was in his second full year of training when Bernardini won the Preakness. “I do remember him,” he said. “He was very impressive, ran huge in the Preakness. He was a very good horse, and we’re hoping this horse — well, I don’t know if we can say follow in his footsteps.”

Because that’s a tall ask. Bernardini finished the season winning Saratoga’s Travers Stakes (G1), the Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1) against older horses and finishing second in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs to be voted 3-year-old champion.

“We’d take that, absolutely, take it all,” Cox said in cheerful acknowledgment of the magnitude of Bernardini’s accomplishments. “Listen, I’m excited about this horse. We’ve been excited with him for a good while. The last few works have been very, very good. It’s not how fast he’s going, it’s how easy he’s doing it. I think we’re set up for a big one.”

Godolphin has been on a tear the past couple of years. Sheikh Mohammed’s operation is the three-time defending Eclipse Award-winning owner, an honor it’s earned six times overall, including in 2006 as Darley. Last fall at Keeneland, Godolphin captured four Breeders’ Cup races, the most ever in one year for an owner while topping their record of three from the year before. The Cox-trained 2-year-old and 3-year-old champion Essential Quality provided Godolphin with its second Triple Crown victory in the 2021 Belmont Stakes.

“They’re rolling; they’ve been rolling for a long while,” Cox said. “Hopefully we can keep it going Saturday at the Preakness.”

First Mission is a son of the Darley America stallion Street Sense, the 2007 Kentucky Derby winner and Preakness runner-up. First Mission biologically only became a 3-year-old on Derby Day.

Said Banahan: “When you get late foals that are that good, it gives you a lot of hope for really big days down the road when they really mature.”