Photo:
Candice Chavez / Eclipse Sportswire
Klein Racing’s homebred Brilliant Berti rallied from far
back and held off long-shot stablemate Depiction by a neck to win the Grade 3, $591,625
Bryan Station Stakes for 3-year-olds at Keeneland, giving trainer Cherie DeVaux a
closing-day exacta.
“He’s a horse that’s shown he has a lot of ability from the
beginning,” DeVaux said. “He had a mild setback as a 2-year-old, so he ran his
first race when he was 3, and it just was a learning experience. But from there
it’s just been an upward trajectory for him.”
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Ridden by Brian Hernandez Jr., Brilliant Bertie covered the one
mile on the turf course labeled as firm in 1:34.40.
Watch the full replay as BRILLIANT BERTI charges down the stretch to win the Bryan Station (G3)! pic.twitter.com/AfIHAp6gG9
— Keeneland Racing (@keenelandracing) October 26, 2024
“He’s shown us all year long what a talented horse he is,”
Hernandez said. “We’re just proud of him, especially for the Klein family. For
them to keep breeding these good horses like they do, it’s a proud moment for
them. The only time I got nervous today was when we were in the paddock, and
Richard (Klein) told me, ‘We’ve won stakes at Keeneland before, but I’ve never
gotten to come out in the infield for a winner-circle picture.’ So I hoping
like, man, I hope we can get it done for him today.”
Brilliant Berti is a Kentucky-bred son of Noble Mission out
of Langfuhr mare Believe in Bertie. He earned $344,100 for the victory to
increase his career earnings to $1,601,285 with a record of 7: 5-1-0. His other
stakes wins were in the listed American Derby and in the $1.5 million Gun
Runner at Kentucky Downs. He also was second in the Secretariat (G2) at
Colonial Downs.
Brilliant Berti paid $8.18, $5.36 and $3.30. Depiction,
ridden by Florent Géroux, returned $26.38 and $11.20 and finished one length in
front of third-place Herchee, who paid $5.04 under Édgar Morales.
Evade, Lagynos, favored Trikari, Neat, Demolisher, My Boy
Prince, Call Protection and Mansa Musa completed the finish in that order.
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