A tall colt that grew to 16 hands 2 inches, Bertrando was bred by Ed Nahem at River Edge Farm in Buellton, California.
En route to being voted California Champion two-year-old colt, Bertrando won the important Del Mar Futurity and the Grade I Norfolk Stakes, one of the final preparatory races for two-year-olds going into the Breeders' Cup Juvenile.
In what a 2006 National Thoroughbred Racing Association article called "the single-most spectacular performance in Breeders' Cup history", Arazi wove between horses and with two furlongs to run passed Bertrando to win.
In his third attempt to win a Breeders' Cup race, he entered the 1994 Classic, where he finished sixth.
After two unplaced showings in 1995, Bertrando was retired to River Edge Farm in Buellton, California, where he became a successful sire of a number of stakes-race winners.