Romans involved in car accident after Kentucky Derby

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Dale Romans was disappointed Saturday evening when Brody’s Cause could do no better than seventh in the Kentucky Derby. But that was nothing compared to what happened to Romans and several friends later that night.

Romans and five friends were in his vehicle when they were in a frightening accident at about 10:30 p.m. Eastern near Churchill Downs.

According to an update provided Monday morning at the track by Tammy Fox, Romans’s life partner and stable assistant, Romans was the driver, and he suffered only a severely pulled muscle in his rib cage.

Three others, however, were more seriously injured and remained hospitalized Monday. They are Kurt Paseka, a former racing writer who suffered a fractured pelvis; Paseka’s sister Kyle, who fractured vertebrae; and John Hennegan, a filmmaker who broke multiple ribs. All were in for the Derby from New York.

Fox, who was not with the group, said the two other passengers in the vehicle were not seriously injured. She said the accident occurred at an intersection on Southern Parkway, a main thoroughfare that leads to and from Churchill.

“A woman in an SUV ran a stop sign, and Dale couldn’t avoid her,” said Fox. “They made contact toward the front end, and it spun Dale’s car around and into the path of a truck that T-boned them on the passenger’s side.”

Fox said Romans was the only person in the vehicle who had not been drinking. The group was on its way to the Romans home in Iroquois Park from the VFW post, a popular after-race spot just outside of Churchill’s Gate 10.

Hennegan is best known in racing circles for collaborating with his brother Brad on the 2006 documentary “The First Saturday in May,” which co-starred Romans, Fox, and their two children, Bailey and Jake.

Romans probably will be able to return to training within a few days, said Fox.

Meanwhile, Fox said the next start for Brody’s Cause is undecided. The June 11 Belmont Stakes is a logical spot for a late-running colt who was coming off a victory in the Blue Grass Stakes. His defeat marked the 25th straight year that the Blue Grass winner has not won the Derby, dating to the Strike the Gold double in 1991.

“We’ll see how he does once he gets back to it,” she said.

Romans is tentatively planning on running Cherry Wine in the May 21 Preakness at Pimlico. Third in the Blue Grass, the gray colt was scratched as an also-eligible on the Derby program.