No Belmont for Bernardini

Bernardini breaks away from Sweetnorthernsaint to win the Preakness last week by 51/4 lengths in 1:54.65. (By Jonathan Newton -- The Washington Post)

Racing's tattered Triple Crown suffered another blow yesterday when Darley Stable announced that Preakness Stakes winner Bernardini will skip the Belmont Stakes on June 10 and be rested for major races this summer.

The decision means the Belmont Stakes will not feature the winner of the Kentucky Derby or Preakness Stakes for the first time since 2000.

Barbaro, the undefeated Kentucky Derby winner who broke down Saturday about 50 strides out of the Pimlico Race Course starting gate in the Preakness, was reported yesterday to be doing excellently by Dean Richardson, chief of surgery at the George D. Widener Hospital for Large Animals at the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center.

While most people were focused on Barbaro's breakdown, Bernardini was winning the Preakness in powerful style, beating runner-up Sweetnorthernsaint by 5 1/4 lengths in a fast time of 1 minute 54.65 seconds. The race was just the fourth of the colt's career and owner Sheik Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai in the United Arab Emirates, decided the 1 1/2 -mile Belmont would be too demanding after just three weeks off.

"It hurts because you always want to have the Derby winner or Preakness winner," said Bill Nader, senior vice president of the New York Racing Association, which operates Belmont Park. "We're still going to have a good field."

Bernardini's trainer, Tom Albertrani, said his horse came out of the Preakness fine but declined to comment further because he is serving a 15-day suspension after one of his horses tested positive for acepromazine, a banned tranquilizer. The drug was found in a runner Albertrani raced at Aqueduct on April 1.

The suspension will end June 6, in time for the trainer to enter Deputy Glitters in the Belmont. That horse finished eighth in the Kentucky Derby.

Jim Bell, manager of Darley's Jonabell Farm in Lexington, Ky., said the decision to pull Bernardini from consideration for the Belmont was made by al-Maktoum.

"Seeing he's had three relatively quick races and broke his maiden in March and won a Grade I race [the Preakness] in May, he thought we should give him a midsummer campaign and point to the Breeders' Cup," Bell said. "Sheik Mohammed is an astute horseman himself. He's got a very good feel for when to say go and when to say whoa."

Bell said Barbaro's breakdown had no impact on the decision not to run Bernardini on three week's rest.

"Each horse is an individual project," he said. "I don't think they are related at all."

Along with Deputy Glitters, the Belmont Stakes likely will feature the second-, third- and fourth-place finishers from the Kentucky Derby -- Bluegrass Cat, Steppenwolfer and Jazil. Also being pointed toward the historic race are Wood Memorial winner Bob and John, Peter Pan Stakes winner Sunriver and Hemingway's Key, who finished third in the Preakness.

Notes: Danny Marchant, an assistant trainer who works at Pimlico Race Course, suffered stab wounds in an attack on the backstretch early Tuesday morning.

Baltimore Police responded to a call at 4:49 a.m. and found Marchant, who works for trainer Joseph Ayers, suffering from multiple wounds to his body. It appeared to detectives that two men had scaled the fence around the track and attacked Marchant, said Officer Troy Harris, a public information officer.

Marchant was taken to Sinai Hospital and underwent surgery. He was reported in serious but stable condition, Harris said.

"This does not appear to be a random act of violence," said Officer Nicole Monroe, also a public information officer. "He appears to have been targeted."