6-year-old gelding has 11 wins from 20 starts at Laurel
LAUREL, MD — On Saturday afternoon, before the first race, trainer Brittany Russell’s Rominski schooled in the paddock.
“He looks fit,” remarked Mackenzie Pfeiffer, Racing Analyst for The Maryland Jockey Club.
On Sunday afternoon, Rominski ran to his appearance, besting a tough field of sprinters in the featured sixth race, a high-level allowance with a $55,000 claiming option for 3-year-olds and upward at six furlongs.
A safe bet is to assume that Rominski will next run on Laurel dirt, where he boasts 11 wins from 20 starts, including victories in his last six races.
A 6-year-old gelding by Great Notion, Rominski broke cleanly under Russell, and prompted pacesetters Twisted Ride and Arden’sluckytobe through an opening quarter clocked in 22.36 seconds.
Rominski looked locked and loaded entering the turn, and he easily moved to command after a half-mile in 45.34. At the three-sixteenths pole, Rominski enjoyed a clear lead, and he finished 1 ½ lengths better than a game Twisted Ride.
Heard On Thestreet placed another 3 ½ lengths behind in third. S S Sinatra, Radical Right, Tuskegee Airmen, Khozeiress, Karan’s Notion, Sir Wellington, and Arden’sluckytobe completed the order of finish.
Bred in Maryland by David Wade, favored Rominski returned $4.40 to win.
“He’s a cool dude,” Sheldon Russell continued. “You can turn him loose in the afternoon. He warms up great. I said to Brittany in the paddock that I loved the outside post. I got him into that happy cruising gear, swept them on the turn, and he ran all the way to the wire.”
A half-brother to multiple stakes-winning sprinter Whereshetoldmetogo and stakes-placed router Castlewood Terrace, Rominski sold for $28,000 as a yearling. He raced for trainers Claudio Gonzalez, Kieron Magee, and Michael Trombetta before Brittany Russell took him for $55,000 last year for Stuart Grant’s The Elkstone Group.
Rominski won his first three starts for The Elkstone Group, including a career-best 102 Beyer Speed Figure performance in a high-level allowance on March 23. He raced out of town in his subsequent three starts, all defeats, and finished second in a $12,000 starter allowance at Delaware on July 10.
“He’s been great for us,” said Sheldon Russell. “He’s a veteran. He’s a special horse. Every time we bring him over here, he always runs good.”
Rominski has 13 victories from 27 starts for earnings of $513,524.
*Around the track:
Live racing resumes on Friday with a ten-race program. The first post time is 12:10 pm ET…Register for the Autumn Handicapping Tournament, a hybrid on-track and online event on Saturday, September 27. It’s a live money contest with a $500 buy-in. Top prizes include cash, a full seat to the Breeders’ Cup Betting Challenge, and two National Handicapping Championship Prize Packs. For more on upcoming events at Laurel Park, click here…Reserve your spot for our weekly “Bubbly Brunch Sundays”. Kick back with friends over delicious brunch favorites and bottomless mimosas in our vibrant Stone Bar Restaurant and Bar. Sunday Brunch begins at 11:00 am ET and runs through the final live race at Laurel Park…Stakes-winner Tony Eclipse, unraced since finishing fifth as the favorite in the Private Terms Stakes on March 22, breezed three furlongs in 37.20 seconds this morning for Brittany Russell…Stakes-winner Seven’s Eleven, most recently third in the Frank Whiteley Stakes on April 12, went three-eighths in 37.60 for David Mohan…Russell also put multiple stakes-placed My Charm through her paces with the 3-year-old filly breezing five-eighths in 1:03.40…Grade 1 winner Trikari worked a bullet five-eighths in 1:01.60 at Fair Hill this morning for trainer Graham Motion. Trikari finished third in his most recent run, the Prince George’s County Stakes at Laurel on June 28.
