Romans has two chances to win first Kentucky Jockey Club

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – There’s a certain irony in this statistical nugget: Dale Romans has won the Grade 1 Breeders’ Futurity at Keeneland four times, but the trainer has never won the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes at his home track, Churchill Downs.

That’s something like a sports team going unbeaten on the road and winless at home.

“We’ll just have to put a stop to that, won’t we?” said Romans, a lifelong Louisville resident. “The winless part, I mean.”

Romans will have two chances to win Churchill’s signature race for 2-year-olds on Saturday when he sends out Promises Fulfilled and Tiz Mischief in the 91st running of the KJC. A full gate of 14 2-year-olds was entered in an extremely attractive betting event.

The KJC, along with its sister race, the Grade 2 Golden Rod, anchor the second Stars of Tomorrow card of the Churchill fall meet, with the first having been run as the Oct. 29 opener. First post Saturday for the all-2-year-old card is 1 p.m. Eastern, with the $200,000 Golden Rod set as race 9 (4:57) and the KJC as race 11 (5:56). Both will be run around two turns at 1 1/16 miles.

The Romans colts bring contrasting styles to the KJC: Promises Fulfilled has won a pair of one-turn races on the front end, while Tiz Mischief rallied from well off the pace in winning a two-turn maiden race in his third start.

“They’ve both got a future,” said Romans. “We’ll see how they handle this kind of spot. With 14 horses, it’ll be a very good test before we break camp for the winter.”

The depth of the KJC is illustrated this way: No fewer than six of the separately listed runners in Pool 1 of the Kentucky Derby Future Wager are in the lineup. They are Gotta Go, Givemeaminit, Enticed, Quip, Tiz Mischief, and Lone Sailor. The future wager was set to open Thursday at noon Eastern and run through Sunday at 6 p.m.

The Golden Rod drew a field of 12, with the undefeated Monomoy Girl the likely favorite. Four allowances and six maiden-specials fill out the card.

Sunday is closing day of the 21-day Churchill meet, with live action on the Kentucky circuit moving to Turfway Park for four months. The Turfway winter-spring meet begins on Thursday, Nov. 30.