Attachment Rate seeks class relief in first-level allowance

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Nobody blames Dale Romans for giving it a go. Romans tried again to win the Kentucky Derby when sending out Attachment Rate at 47-1 in the Sept. 5 race, and when the colt wound up ahead of just one rival, it was hardly a surprising result.

Duly refreshed with six workouts in the interim, Attachment Rate has resurfaced in the entries for the first time since finishing 24 lengths behind Authentic in the 146th Derby. Out of six straight stakes, the Hard Spun colt will compete for a first-level allowance condition for the first time when he faces six others as the 7-5 morning-line favorite Thursday at Churchill Downs.

“We never really stopped training on him after the Derby,” said Romans, now 0 for 11 in the Derby. “We decided to regroup, go back to an allowance race, and hopefully give him some class relief.”

With Joe Talamo to ride, Attachment Rate will break from post 1 in the sixth of 10 Thursday races. The $87,000 race goes at 1 1/16 miles on the main track.

Romans said he might try Attachment Rate on turf at some point.

“We’ll see how he does in this spot and go from there,” he said.

Since winning a mid-February maiden race at Gulfstream Park, Attachment Rate has raced exclusively in stakes company, and in respectable fashion until the Derby dud. The chestnut colt finished second to Art Collector in the Aug. 9 Ellis Park Derby, earning a career-high 95 Beyer Speed Figure, but he showed little when 14th of 15 in the Kentucky Derby.

“His race in the Derby wasn’t very good, but we know he’s better than that,” Romans said.

Two other allowances also are carded for Thursday.

There are two scheduled turf events – races 7 and 9 – but rain might force them to the main track. A 90 percent chance of showers is in the forecast, along with high temperatures in the mid-60s.

Race 9 is an $87,000 first-level race scheduled for the three-turn distance of 1 3/8 miles, and if it stays on the turf, the likely favorites are Bluegrass Parkway, Sharecropper, and Kentucky Ghost. If a surface switch is necessary, Sharecropper perhaps would stand to benefit most.

Race 8 is an $89,000 second-level allowance sprint in which Club Car, already a two-time winner over the Churchill main track, figures as a deserving favorite in a field of seven fillies and mares.

All purses for non-claiming/starter races at this meet include substantial bonuses restricted to registered Kentucky-breds.