Dale Romans

For many trainers around the country, their biggest practical worry from day to day isn't the patchwork quilt of medication rules and regulations, or the fear that one trainer has an unfair competitive edge over another, but whether they've enough grooms, hotwalkers and riders populating their barns to properly tend to the horses in their care. With fewer and fewer North Americans siphoning into horse racing, the sport has turned for relief, of course, with growing reliance on Central and South America--what has proven an increasingly tenuous stable of talent...

Albaugh Family Stables' Smiley Sobotka (Brody's Cause), last seen finishing second behind Keepmeinmind (Laoban) in the Nov. 28 GII Kentucky Jockey Club S., makes his sophomore debut in the 1 1/16-mile GIII Sam F. Davis S. at Tampa Bay Downs Saturday. The chestnut colt tuned up for his return to the races with a four-furlong drill in :46.81 (2/118) at Gulfstream Park last Saturday. Michael Shanley's Nova Rags (Union Rags) makes a return trip to Tampa following his win in the seven-furlong Pasco S. last time out Jan. 16. The...

As a second-generation horse trainer and Kentuckian, my entire life has been spent in Thoroughbred racing. I've seen Kentucky racing at its finest, and I've seen how quickly out-of-state competition can render us increasingly irrelevant. Right now Kentucky is at the top. But it doesn't have to stay that way. I currently have 50 employees and do business with more than 100 vendors in Kentucky alone. Without Historical Horse Racing (HHR) revenue supplementing the purses for which our horses compete, many of those jobs will have to leave the state,...

Fern Circle Stables and Three Chimneys Farm's King Fury (Curlin) is undefeated in two prior starts at Churchill Downs and tries to annex his first graded victory in Saturday's GII Kentucky Jockey Club S. A debut winner at the Louisville oval in September, the chestnut was eighth in Keeneland's GI Breeders' Futurity S. Oct. 3 before bouncing back to score in the Oct. 25 Street Sense S. Last time out, the 2-year-old finished seventh under Brian Hernandez Jr. in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Nov. 6. "He's 2-for-2 at Churchill...

8th-CD, $89K, OC100k/N2X, 3yo, 1m, 4:36 p.m. ET  'TDN Rising Star' DENNIS' MOMENT (Tiznow) makes his return to the races here. Last of eight as the 4-5 favorite after stumbling badly at the start in the 2019 GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile, the GIII Iroquois S. winner has made only one start since, finishing up the track as the chalk in the GII Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth S. at Gulfstream Feb. 29. The Albaugh Family Stables colorbearer's worktab includes a local five-furlong bullet in :58 1/5 (1/46) for Dale Romans Nov....

Much has been made lately in Kentucky on farms reducing stud fees in response to the blighted economy, but there's a group of stallions whose fees would have mostly dropped as a matter of course even in booming times. These are second- through fifth-year stallions; frequently, fees for horses entering their fifth season at stud as their first-crop runners turn three show particularly pronounced drops from their initial fees. A small commercial breeder contacted me the other day to discuss the reduced 2021 stud fee for a stallion whose first...

Robert J. Baron and WinStar Farm's Grade I-winning millionaire Promises Fulfilled (Shackleford--Marquee Delivery, by Marquetry) has been retired from racing and will enter stud at WinStar for the 2021 breeding season. His fee has been set at $10,000 S&N. Promises Fulfilled won five graded stakes at distances from six furlongs to 1 1/16 miles--winning the GI H. Allen Jerkens S., GII Fountain of Youth S., GII John A. Nerud S., GII Phoenix S., and GIII Amsterdam S. "When we look for stallion prospects, we want brilliance," said Elliott Walden, WinStar's...

Longshot Sittin On Go blew past his rivals in the stretch to become the first stakes winner for his freshman sire (by Giant's Causeway), who was campaigned by these same connections. The chestnut was wheeling back on relatively short rest after an off-the-pace 4 1/4-length tally going five furlongs at Ellis Aug. 16--he earned just a 49 Beyer Speed Figure. Unhurried early and guided a bit off the potentially dead rail, Sittin On Go traveled nicely on the bridle while far back as odds-on Therideofalifetime (Candy Ride {Arg}) zipped away...

Spendthrift Farm, MyRaceHorse Stable, Madaket Stables and Starlight Racing's Authentic (Into Mischief) completed his final work ahead of Saturday's GI Kentucky Derby, covering six furlongs in 1:12.40 (1/9) at Del Mar Sunday morning. "Authentic is really doing well. I see him turning the corner," trainer Bob Baffert said. "Both of my horses [Authentic and Thousand Words], I think they're live. We just need some luck, you never know what is going to happen with that many horses in there." Authentic, second behind Honor A.P. (Honor Code) in the June 6...

The year 2020 will have an asterisk next to it in racing history, but there will nevertheless be a leading first-crop sire at year's end, and Taylor Made's Not This Time (Giant's Causeway) might be the stallion atop it. As we head into September, Not This Time leads all N. American-based first-crop sires by number of winners, with nine, and he's a close third behind Ashford's Air Force Blue (War Front) and WinStar's Speightster (Speightstown) on the progeny earnings list. The major 2-year-old graded events the next few months leading...

2nd-Ellis, $46,020, Msw, 8-16, 2yo, 5f, :59.26, ft. SITTIN ON GO (c, 2, Brody's Cause--Set'n On Ready {SP}, by More Than Ready) stormed to the lead with an eye-catching move in deep stretch to graduate on debut and become the third winner for his freshman sire (by Giant's Causeway). The chestnut, half of the 8-5 entry, settled well off the pace as Lock Up (Maclean's Music) looked to take them wire-to-wire. Sittin on Go made rapid progress on the turn along the rail, tipped out for running room at midstretch...

Angel Cordero, Jr., Dale Romans, Ramon Dominguez and Terry Finley discussed some of their fondest racing memories in the New York Race Track Chaplaincy's Champions TALK roundtable Wednesday evening. It can be viewed here. The discussion, filmed at the Fasig-Tipton Sales Pavilion in Saratoga Springs, NY, was moderated by former track announcer Tom Durkin. Viewers are encouraged to make a donation to the chaplaincy. The organizations two annual fund-raising events in Saratoga Springs, NY were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. During the discussion, the NY Chaplaincy also honored the...