Brilliant Berti back to winning ways in the Gun Runner (Courtney Snow/Past The Wire)
By Mike Kane – Kentucky Downs
FRANKLIN, Ky.— Klein Racing’s homebred colt Brilliant Berti picked up his fourth victory in six career starts Sunday with a one-length triumph in the $1.5 million Global Tote Gun Runner Stakes at Kentucky Downs.
Four weeks after finishing second as the favorite in the Secretariat Stakes (G2) at Colonial Downs, Brilliant Berti returned to his winning ways in the one-mile Gun Runner. He was well off the pace early, running comfortably under jockey Brian Hernandez, Jr. and moved into contention between the half-mile pole and the quarter pole. The Noble Mission 3-year-old continued his drive through the stretch and edged Herchee. Neat was another three-quarters of a length back in third.
Drunk on Sake led the way for the first six furlongs through fractions of 22.83 seconds, 44.85 and 1:08.94. Brillaint Berti, trained by Cherie DeVaux, reached the wire in 1:33.42 and paid $6.12.
“He handled it really well,” Hernandez said. “He didn’t break good, but he does that often. Going up the hill, I wasn’t really, really worried about it. Typically, if horses start traveling under you down the hill and start picking horses up, they tend to like this place. Once he did that, and we got into a nice cruising speed down the hill, I was like, ‘ok, we can run them down from this point.
“He likes the competition. He ran by those horses pretty quickly and once he made the lead, he had his ears up under the wire, just looking around and cruising along. Once he got to the wire and the horse to the inside took another shot at him, he jumped up and galloped out.”
Henandez said he knew the colt was on his way to victory in the stretch.
“Right before the eighth pole, when he jumped leads and I said he was going to win from this point,” Hernandez said. “At this place when horses are running and they jump back to their left lead inside the eighth pole, they shoot off again and that’s what he did.”
Brilliant Berti was brilliant in the Gun Runner S. at Kentucky Downs under @b_hernandezjr for trainer @reredevaux!
— TwinSpires Racing (@TwinSpires) September 8, 2024
#TwinSpiresReplay pic.twitter.com/8xlKZr5tkx
Darrin Williams, DeVaux’ assistant trainer at Churchill Downs, said the question to be answered in the Gun Runner was how he would run back after the Secretariat.
“Obviously I was a little bit nervous coming into Kentucky Downs,” he said. “I talked to Cherie and Richard (owner-breeder Klein) before. I didn’t really think that race took a whole lot out of him at Colonial. The horse came back good. The horse just does everything right for you, and lets you train him the way he needs to be trained. We were confident in the horse; we just didn’t know if we were confident in Kentucky Downs. But it all worked out.”
Klein, of Klein Racing from Louisville, said it is the first time his family has won a $1 million race or had a horse who won $1 million. Brilliant Berti earned $882,800 on Sunday and now has $1,2785,785 in earnings.
“Twenty-three years ago we won the Super Derby (then a Grade 1) with Outofthebox,” Klein said. “That was a half-million.”
Klein said the Gun Runner was the race he had targeted for the colt, but decided to make a run in the Secretariat.
“Unfortunately that day, it didn’t help his style because it was more speed-biased,” Klein said. “I just knew this track, he would favor. Because as a yearling, being broken in Lexington with Amy and Charlie LoPresti, he was training up and down hills going a mile, mile and a half every day. So he knew the terrain.”
Richard Klein’s parents were the Louisville power couple Bert and Elaine Klein. Bert was a prominent banker. Richard and his mom raced horses together, and later Bert Klein started his own operation, mainly claiming horses. They merged operations and had a ton of success with their homebreds, mostly including a form of Bert or Bertie in the name. Richard Klein said Brilliant Berti reflects four generations of Klein ownership.
“What a special horse,” he said. “In fact, I made a stop by the cemetery before I came down here to let my parents both know that Berti is running today and hopefully they can be a part of it and ride with him down the stretch. They were a big part of this.”
Completing the order of finish: In a Jam, Depiction, Lucky Jeremy, Kentucky Go Go, Army Officer, Karlwithanarl, Aspenite, Drunk on Sake.
