He was owned by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of Dubai.
After a lung infection kept him from racing for 2 months, he came back with a 73⁄4 length win in a Maiden Special Weight over one mile at Gulfstream.
A spokesman for Sheikh Mohammed's Darley Stable said that "...(Bernardini) climbed the ladder of competition quite quickly" and that "he deserves the break."
In the 2006 Breeders' Cup Classic at Churchill Downs, Bernardini tracked near the lead and passed the frontrunner, Brother Derek, at the quarter pole.
On January 26, 2011, Jerry Moss and his wife Ann announced that Bernardini would be the first mate of the 2010 Horse of the Year when Zenyatta was booked to him later that season.
Zenyatta's dam and 2008 Kentucky Broodmare of the Year Vertigineux produced a debut-winning Bernardini filly named Eblouissante in 2009.