Romans making best of his extended Florida stay

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Dale Romans readily admits he’s a creature of habit. And under normal circumstances, his habit at this time of year is to be in his native Kentucky where he’d be racing at Keeneland for the next several weeks while looking forward in a month to attending and possibly competing in another Kentucky Derby.

Instead, Romans finds himself stuck in Florida for the foreseeable future, along with dozens of his training colleagues from up north, not knowing when he’ll be able to leave.

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“Throughout my business and my personal life, I’ve always stayed the course, moved at the same time each year, and now we’re adapting like everyone else,” Romans said. “The hardest part for me is that there is no better place to be in the spring than Kentucky, racing at Keeneland and then the Derby. I can’t remember the last spring I wasn’t at Keeneland. At least we still get to run. I also realize there are a lot of people in worse shape than us, that these are tough times, and we’re all going to have to do what we have to do to get through this thing together.”

The coronavirus pandemic altered plans several weeks ago for the best horse in Romans’s barn, Mr Freeze, runner-up in the Pegasus World Cup and easy winner of the Gulfstream Park Mile earlier this winter. Mr Freeze was scheduled to fly to Dubai to compete in the Godolphin Mile on March 28. Romans made a last-minute decision not to put Mr Freeze on that flight, a wise choice as it turned out after the program was canceled just days after the rest of the U.S. contingent arrived.

“I’m sure glad I made that decision and saved him the long flight over and back for nothing,” Romans said. “As a result, he’s been able to work and stick to his regular schedule, although like many of the horses in our barn he’s all dressed up with nowhere to go at the moment.”

The stakes schedule for the Gulfstream Park spring meet, which opens Thursday, is limited and was not written for the caliber of horses that have remained in the area due to the coronavirus epidemic. Romans, who also has Dennis’ Moment and Attachment Rate in training locally, is hoping management takes that into consideration when deciding what kind of races to offer.

“I think they know what they’ve got on the backsides around here now and they’ll figure something out, and hopefully some races will show up for us,” Romans said.

“Dennis’ Moment is ready to return to the work tab any day now, and I’m still considering the Arkansas Derby for Attachment Rate.”