Barbaro's career comes to an end

RACING/Preakness Stakes: Bernardini, trained by Tom Albertrani and ridden by Javier Castellano, won a dramatic renewal of the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico on Saturday in which hot-favourite Barbaro suffered a career-ending injury.

The Sheikh Mohammed-owned colt shot clear down the home straight after making his move round the final bend to beat Sweetnorthernsaint by five and a quarter lengths, with Hemingway's Key coming home third.

But Kentucky Derby winner and Triple Crown hopeful Barbaro was pulled up by Edgar Prado after suffering a horrible injury to a hind leg in the early stages of the extended nine-furlong contest.

Barbaro, trained by Michael Matz, had looked well in the preliminaries and even broke the gate as the field lined up for the off. The odds-on favourite was stopped after a few strides, though, and was reloaded, allowing the race to get under way second time around.

After the gates opened, Barbaro was settled in mid-field by Prado, but was pulled up after only a couple of furlongs.

NBC reported the three-year-old would be sent to the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center for surgery on his right-hind leg, which was believed to have broken above and below the ankle.

"His racing career is over and the best case scenario is to save him for stallion duty," Dr Larry Bramlage, a surgeon with the American Association of Equine Practitioners, told NBC.

Barbaro's market rival Brother Derek looked likely to score on the run down the back, but he weakened rapidly, leaving Bernardini to sweep past Sweetnorthernsaint and claim the prestigious contest on his fourth career start.

The winner's ceremony was notably low-key following the injury to Barbaro, and Darley Stud representative John Ferguson said: "I would like to say first of all how sorry we feel for the connections of Barbaro and I do hope he is okay.

"Bernardini put up a spectacular performance and Sheikh Mohammed, the ruler of Dubai, is so sorry he can't be here tonight as he had commitments that he was not able to break."

Winning trainer Albertrani added: "I got concerned when I saw him get passed by Brother Derek, as I thought he might not be running his race. But when he came back at them I knew it was all over from there."

Yesterday afternoon's meeting scheduled for Gowran Park was cancelled due to a waterlogged track, and this evening's racing at Kilbeggan has fallen victim to the same fate. The inclement weather conditions also took its toll at Navan as yesterday's meeting was abandoned after just three races due to the deterioration of ground and incessant rain.