Dale Romans

Girl Daddy, sent out by the same connections that have used the Pea Patch in recent years as a springboard to launch the careers of graded stakes-winning juveniles Not This Time (Giant's Causeway) and Dennis' Moment (Tiznow), turned heads on debut Friday to earn the 'TDN Rising Star' distinction. The $500,000 KEESEP buy displayed a fairly unassuming Churchill worktab for a typically patient conditioner, but took some tote attention to be off at 9-5--longer than only fast-working fellow firster Malibu Bird (Malibu Moon). Flat-footed at the start, the grey rushed...

Suspended trainer Rick Dutrow's attempts to resume his career were dealt a blow Tuesday by the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission's License Review Committee. After hearing from Dutrow and others who testified on his behalf, the committee voted unanimously to allow Dutrow to withdraw his application for a license. It was within the committee's right to grant Dutrow a license, with or without conditions. Dutrow's attorney, Karen Murphy, reluctantly agreed and withdrew the application for the license. Dutrow was suspended for 10 years in 2011 by New York regulators for what...

All-sources wagering on Churchill Downs' abbreviated 27-date Spring Meet totaled $240.5 million, which was a 53.3% increase from the 32 days of racing that followed last year's Kentucky Derby. Additionally, the average daily handle was up 81.7% from $4.9 million one year ago to $8.9 million this season. Shortened to seven weeks from May 16-June 28, the 2020 meet was staged under strict government-sanctioned protocols and without spectators because of the COVID-19 pandemic. This season, Churchill Downs experienced four of the track's six largest non-Derby, Oaks or Breeders' Cup betting...

With its two annual fund-raising events in Saratoga Springs cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the New York Race Track Chaplaincy will instead host "Champions Talk," featuring five prominent personalities from the world of sports and horse racing, which will premiere Wednesday, Aug. 5 at 7 p.m. ET. The five individuals are Hall of Fame jockeys Angel Cordero, Jr. and Ramòn Dominguez, Kentucky Derby winning owner Terry Finley of West Point Thoroughbreds, Churchill Downs' all-time leading trainer Dale Romans and Pro Football Hall of Fame and two-time Super Bowl winning...

With its two annual fundraising events in Saratoga Springs, NY cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the New York Race Track Chaplaincy will instead host "Champions Talk", an event featuring five prominent personalities from the world of sports and horse racing, which will premiere Wednesday, Aug. 5 at 7 p.m. ET. The five individuals are Hall of Fame jockeys Angel Cordero Jr. and Ramon Dominguez, GI Kentucky Derby-winning owner Terry Finley of West Point Thoroughbreds, Churchill Downs's all-time leading trainer Dale Romans and Pro Football Hall of Fame and two-time...

Not his time yet, surely. Can't be. A son of two-turn titan Giant's Causeway; a half-brother to late-blooming Liam's Map. Yet there it is, in black and white: three starters, two winners. Hopeful Princess hurtling just 4 1/2 furlongs at Churchill last week; and Swaggy George at Gulfstream the next day, circling the field into the stretch and sprinting four lengths clear. So while these remain the very earliest of days, Not This Time could not have made a more auspicious start to his stud career. On the one hand,...

A live bugler played a first-race call to post that echoed and reverberated in front of a cavernously empty grandstand, and track announcer Travis Stone preceded his season-opening call with the declaration that "Better late than never, they're in the gate at Churchill Downs." But once the horses were off and running for Saturday's 11-race card, a sense of business-as-usual settled in--at least as defined by the new normalcy terms of spectator-free, pandemic-era racing in America. "It was surreal. I watched the first race of the season from the infield...

2nd-Gulfstream, $43,000, Msw, 3-8, 3yo, f, 6f, 1:11.67, ft. FOUR GRANDS (f, 3, Honor Code--Taylor S {SW & GSP, $121,519}, by Medaglia d'Oro), backed down to 8-5 favoritism into the face of a pricey Todd Pletcher firster, ran to her backing Sunday for a facile debut victory at Gulfstream against a field of all fellow first timers. Off a half-step slowly from the outside six slot, the bay was pushed along by Luis Saez to chase in third outside of aforementioned Pletcher representative Maggie Fitz (Ghostzapper). She made an early...

For only having raced four times thus far, Albaugh Family Stables' Dennis' Moment (Tiznow) has already had a roller coaster's worth of twists and turns in his career. Two brilliant victories paired with two disastrous starts in his 2-year-old season have established dichotomous perceptions of the imposing bay colt. Saturday at Gulfstream Park, he will get a chance to solidify himself as a top contender for the GI Kentucky Derby when making his highly-anticipated 3-year-old debut as a likely heavy favorite in the GII Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth S. Unveiled...

Dennis Albaugh didn't want to spend $1 million to acquire Thousands Words (Pioneerof the Nile) at the 2018 Keeneland September sale. Albaugh is among the wealthiest people in the sport, but even he has a comfort zone, and says he normally doesn't go beyond $400,000. But, if you want something special, you have to pay for it. And Albaugh and his team of advisors thought Thousand Words was the kind of can't-miss prospect every owner yearns to have. "Normally, we try to find horses in the $200,000 to $400,000 range,"...

4th-GP, $50K, Msw, 4yo/up, 6 1/2f, 2:31 p.m. ET Albaugh Family Stables, which will start likely GII Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth S. favorite Dennis' Moment (Tiznow) this Saturday at Gulfstream, also has action Thursday in Hallandale Beach, as they debut the expensive and well-related COASTAL DEFENSE (Curlin) in the day's fourth event. Owned in partnership with Helen K. Groves Revocable Trust, the chestnut hammered for $800,000 at Keeneland September in 2017 and is a half-brother to MG1SW Hawkbill (Kitten's Joy), as well as the Albaughs' GISW Free Drop Billy (Union...

It's been nearly four months since Dennis' Moment (Tiznow) was last seen finishing last in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile, the result of a bad stumble at the start. That's not the way anyone wants to go into their 3-year-old season, but nothing that he has seen from Dennis' Moment has lessened the enthusiasm trainer Dale Romans has for his horse. "At this stage going into the Derby, I think he's probably the best prospect I've ever had," Romans said. "I've had a lot of good ones and I've had...