Won by 19 and half yesterday at Ellis in 121:4. Cranked out splits of 45:2 109:3 under NO Urging.
Trainer Dale Roman\'s had touted this one as the best he had ever had and Rider Albarado promptly FELL OFF in the initial maiden voyage. Named after owner Dennis Albaugh this one went from an 8-1 ML and opened at 1-9. Son of Tiznow could be the goods. May ship in for Hopeful but personally I would say stay at home and route at CD in Sept. Which is an option.
I have no idea the figure but Negstive is not out of the question.
Received a 97 beyer
Unusual for a Tiznow to be that fast that early.
History has shown use caution with a two year old getting a - #
Bolt is the last one I believe.
Agreed and Bolt did it in a Stakes. Not his first career run (I didnt say start....lol).
I spent a summer in Chicago working. It was the year Arlington burned down and the rental I had was a mile from the Track...ugh. Headed down to Hawthorne early one Saturday for the replacement card and in the first a maiden was a big colt that was 12-1 ML and bet down to 2-1. His name was Meadowlake and he won by 23.
I flew on a leg of a flight many years later next to the Jockey Juvenal Diaz. That race came up and he said Trainer Bert Sonnier almost ran the horse in the Hopeful as first time starter. The track had 8 inches of sand on top and Meadowlake went in 109 when Stakes horses could barely crack 1;12. TGJB has some stories about the figures when he was in the Ragozin office. Wayne Lukas came and walked the track and said it was impossible to run that fast in that much sand.
I have no doubt after what I saw yesterday this horse would have BLOWN AWAY any Maiden filed in the Country. I\'m sure there are offers.
Bert Sonnier, now that\'s a name I haven\'t thought about in years...
Dale,
97 Beyer without ground loss is TG 2 ish.
I respect Dale Romans, one of the few I would still call a horseman.
BUT:
When is the last time he didn’t love one of his horses? Talks them all up to death. When Byk has him on, he’s better than Jay Leno ever was.....
DR is in Saratoga where they run 90k maiden heats, why was this one at the Pee Patch for a 50k pot?
Romans without looking can’t be much over 10% YTD or to put it in a different perspective from one of my all time favorite HBO shows Treme.
http://www.subzin.com/quotes/S65389186b/Treme/Do+You+Know+What+It+Means/Cool+as+a+cucumber+up+an+archbishop%27s+ass.
That character’s death was such a gut punch.
Dale Romans had nothing but good things to say to me when my Father died and I could never say a bad word about the guy. And wouldn\'t have even if that had not occurred.
A lot of guys percentages are down. How is Pletcher doing at Saratoga? Servis is no longer 40%. The Cali Cartel has come back to earth. Chad has all the good ones so his numbers should be up but they are not crazy up. Dale has some ok stock not great this year. Sometimes you get hot like a Little Mike or Shackleford, and sometimes you don\'t. Those owners are still around but they aren\'t winning big. Case in point see Zayat. You need the horses these days.
I\'m not sure breaking a Maiden at Saratoga means what it used to mean. And when was the last time a Hopeful Winner did anything at 3? The Champagne maybe a different story.
Romans was there Saturday at Ellis. And so was his second father and my good friend mentor Mr Frank Jones who is 82. They made the trip down from Louisville to see a maiden in the middle of the day in July. Chads Complexity last year POPPPED at the Spa, won the Champagne and has stopped to walk twice since (BC Juvy and Woody Stephens). Lots of ways to skin a cat these days. We will see where this one goes from here....
Romans’ last “best horse I’ve ever trained†broke his maiden at Ellis Park.
Not This Time
Sonnier liked to keep his staff at the barn long after other outfits had hung up
the halters for the day. He was known on the backstretch as \"All Day\" Sonnier,
both a nickname and a warning to anyone thinking of going to work for him.
Dale was on Steve\'s show today, the last half hour. Radio gold as stated and well worth a listen for a good chuckle. Someone should \"ghost\" write a book packed with all those gems, most everyone else is too PC/corporate in this era.
He explains the Ellis race and talks about the horse in full detail. He also noted that the last horse to break it\'s maiden at 2 on the dirt at Saratoga then go on to win the Derby was...... a female (Winning Colors). Big Brown did but on the turf without the fanfare of these 2 year old MSW packed with juicy pedigrees.
Most wealthy owners want to see their horses run there win or lose, it\'s the price of admission to the club. His owners weren\'t in that group and they are plotting either the Hopeful for Grade 1 now or Dale\'s preference of the Kentucky Jockey Club as a prep into the Breeders Cup limited the number of starts for a horse that they think will get the classic distances.
Pretty much what Roman\'s said is true. The prestige of winning a Baby Race at the Spa is something to pound your chest but it doesnt carry much weight in the long run.
If he does ship in for the Hopeful and he did run a 2 and the competition all won at The Spa running 4\'s and 5\'s. Are the 4\'s and 5\'s faster and more prestigious and elegant because they were done at The Spa? No!!
The Jockey Club is in late November. This may have referred to the Breeders Futurity or Street sense at CD in Sept.
Corrected, it was the Breeders Futurity. Further to the distance question, the ranking method they utilized had him at the top rung being inbred to Northern Dancer: 5S X 5S X 5D X 5D and sired by Tiznow. They were pleasantly surprised at his run off not expecting that precocious of a 2 year old.
He was also able to run the horse 7F which if he wanted to do it on \"the hallowed grounds of the Spa\" he has to wait another month. A one turn mile opening day maiden at Belmont. There is a Stakes race in mid Sept at CD going a mile. Serengetti Empress won the filly side last year after previously winning at Ellis and later the Kentucky Oaks. A primary training base of CD.
People are running less and less these days. Didnt Secretariot ship down and run in the old Laurel Futurity because they wanted him to go 2 turns as a 2YO? Lotsa ways to come up with a Plan and achieve your goals these days. Spa Baby races are great but 2YO racing has evolved
My post in no way was a personal affront on Dale Roman’s.....
You seem to be taking it that way?
I started out saying I have the utmost respect for the man as a trainer and he is one of a handful of conditioner’s in the game I still would classify as a horseman.
I stated a pair of facts:
A) He loves and talks up 90% of his horses.
B) He is ice cold YTD, including a ridiculously abysmal run at the CD spring meet where he is the all time leading trainer.
Ok A little humor was added 🤫
There is no doubt that Dennis’s Moment ran a hole in the wind. There was a 7 figure offer made to them on Sunday.
The Spa was once hallowed ground until Klueless Kay turned it into Disney World.
Two year old racing has evolved to the point that few make it through their 3 yr old season in one piece. Once upon a time they never went past 6 furlongs until The Hopeful @ 6.5.
Lastly Team Roman’s is quite well known to step to the windows.....
He would not have been 4/5 on a Spa Saturday and you can bet a few dollars there easily blending in.
Let’s hope this one stays sound and you are what your next race TG number says you are going forward. A tremendous story if this one turns up BIG on the first Saturday in May of 2020. God knows the game could use one.....
Frank D.
All good Frank you know I love ya.
Frank Jones can send it in but its never in the win pools. He and Dales dad Jerry were a pair coming up from the poor side of town and claiming horses and winning races. Dale and Frank had Tapits Fly and the runnerup in the Preakness a few years ago. The fact Dale left Saratoga and went there and Frank at 82 showed up as strictly a supporter says all one needs to know.
The competition at Ellis is light. But they got to go 7F. Lets say Saturday had been in the Baby Race at the Spa. The winner was an $800K OBS purchase out of Into Mischief and nothing but speed on the bottom. Not sure this is good for the long range plans to compete with and going 5.5 to boot.
There is a 7 furlong MSW for $90K this Saturday at Saratoga.
Well that shuts me up....lol. Good. Its more fair and post position isn\'t a killer.
Look these Baby Races are fun. The fresh unblemished pedigrees cool to look at but it also can be playing with fire from an owner or trainer standpoint. I remember Bailey and Santos locking up in a ding dong battle down the lane in a July Baby Race at Belmont, whips cracking and both horses ended up pretty much shot. Baileys horse had cost more than a $1.0M and this was easily 10+ years ago.