Shackleford ends his career with victory in Churchill Downs’ Clark Handicap

Shackleford (rail) held off Take Charge Indy (far outside) and Bourbon Courage to win the Clark Handicap in his career finale. Reed Palmer Photography/Churchill Downs

Friday’s $447,000 Clark Handicap was as much Grade I race as it was retirement party and lovefest for triumphant Shackleford, who concluded a glorious career with a front-running length victory over the 3-year-old Take Charge Indy in the twilight at Churchill Downs.

“That’s the way he’s supposed to leave,” said trainer Dale Romans. “That’s Shack at his best.”

Shackleford, whose older half-sister Afleeting Lady won Thursday’s Grade II Falls City, retires with a record of 6-5-1 in 20 starts, earning $3,090,101 and the well-deserved reputation of never taking the easier route while winning from seven furlongs to 1 3/16 miles. His victories include this year’s Metropolitan Handicap by a nose and the Grade II Churchill Downs Stakes on Derby Day.

It was Shackleford’s third victory in five starts under the Twin Spires and his most important, though his fourth-place finish after setting testing fractions in the 2011 Kentucky Derby signaled the striking chestnut as a major player. Two weeks later Shackleford won the Preakness Stakes amid a season where he made most of the premier 3-year-old races, finishing with a second in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile.

In fact, it was his disappointing outcome in this year’s Dirt Mile, when he stumbled at the start and wound up seventh at Santa Anita in what was to be his career finale before retiring to Darby Dan Farm’s stallion band, that led to Shackleford running in the Clark.

That’s how we expected him to run in the Breeders’ Cup, and it wasn’t his fault he stumbled,” said Romans, who won his ninth Grade I race of 2012 as he added onto a resume that already had him one of the leading candidates for the Eclipse Award as North America’s champion trainer. Romans is in a tie for the trainer’s title with Kenny McPeek at 12 wins with two days remaining in the fall meet.

“I told everyone, ‘If he comes out of that race good and is training well, we’re going to give him another shot.’ So it couldn’t have worked out any better,” said majority owner Mike Lauffer, who with co-owner Bill Cubbedge bred Shackleford, making them the first owners from Eastern Kentucky to win a Triple Crown race.  “A lot of owners and trainers try to dodge other horses. We’ve always had the utmost confidence in him. When he’s 100 percent like he is today, we’ll take on anyone.”

For his final start, Shackleford was reunited with jockey Jesus Castanon, who rode the colt much of his career until breaking his left hand in a spill a week before the Met Mile.

“I was very emotional when I spoke to Dale and he told me I had a chance to ride him,” Castanon said. “To be able to ride him in his last race was amazing.”

The crowd gave Shackleford and Castanon a raucous ovation as he returned to the front of the grandstand and into a jam-packed winner’s circle.

“It was hugely gratifying in that he showed himself today, what he can do,” said Cubbedge, who also won an allowance race on the card with his filly Molly Morgan. “There’s been a lot of criticism of him, that he’s a habitual loser. For him to run this way in this race is just elating. How many Grade I races did he run in?”

Answer: 13, with his last start that wasn’t at least a Grade II coming in his third race.

“Would we have done anything differently?” Cubbedge asked. “Probably not. Dale has handled him perfectly.”

When Shackleford went the first quarter-mile in 24.31 seconds and the half-mile in 48.65, with Take Charge Indy in closest pursuit, the race was all but over. When Castanon reached the six-furlong split to 1:12.49 and the mile in 1:36.65, it really was over, even though Take Charge Indy and jockey Calvin Borel cut into their 2-1/2 –length deficit with an eighth-mile to go.

“I left him do his own thing, and he knows what to do,” Castanon said. “… Once they let me open up, I knew he was going to last. I could have gone around again and I don’t think they would have gotten to me.”

The fractions actually were slower than Shackleford ran in the Derby: 23.24, 48.63, 1:13.40 and 1:37.49 – some of the swiftest set by a horse who finished in the top four.

“We had to move a little bit early on him because there was no one else to run with (Shackleford),” Borel said of Take Charge Indy, this year’s Florida Derby winner. “But he fought hard. He ran great.”

Shackleford, a son of Forestry out of the Unbridled mare Oatsee, finished 1 1/8 miles in 1:49.12, paying $7.80 as the second choice in the field of nine, with 2011 Stephen Foster winner Pool Play scratched.

Trainer Pat Byrne said Borel “rode our horse brilliant.”

“He ran a super race,” Byrne said. “Shackleford brought his ‘A’ game, and we were second best.”

Bourbon Courage, another 3-year-old who won Louisiana Downs’ Super Derby and was second in the Indiana Derby, rallied from sixth to lose second by a head while finishing 6-3/4 lengths in front of 5-2 post time favorite Lunar Victory.

“We’re proud of him and thought he ran a big race,” said Kellyn Gorder, Bourbon Courage’s trainer. “We’re looking forward to next year.”

Trainer Dale Romans 

Dullahan Overpowers 'Dude in Pacific Classic

• photo: Benoit Photo

Shipped to Southern California by trainer Dale Romans after a pair of  lackluster efforts on the East Coast, Dullahan  collared Game  On Dude in deep stretch to take the $1 million TVG  Pacific Classic (gr. I) in track-record time at Del Mar Aug. 26 (VIDEO).

With Joel Rosario aboard, Dullahan defeated Game on Dude by a half-length  while clocked in 1:59.54 for the 1 1/4-mile distance on Polytrack. That eclipsed  the track mark of 2:00.61 established in the Pacific Classic last year by  champion Acclamation,  who did not participate in this year's race because of a minor injury.

"It worked out perfect," said Rosario, who was based in Southern California  for several years but moved to New York earlier this season. "He's a one-paced  horse. He just goes and goes. When we went for home and I saw (Game On Dude) in  front of me, I knew I had a big chance.

"My horse was coming and coming. He doesn't stop. He's a nice horse; a very  nice horse."

Dullahan, third-place finisher in this year's Kentucky Derby Presented by  Yum! Brands (gr. I), becomes the fourth 3-year-old to win the Pacific Classic in  the 22-year history of the race, and the first since Came Home in 2002. He is  now 3-for-3 on Polytrack in his career, all in grade I events, including earlier  wins in the Breeders' Futurity as a 2-year-old and the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes  in April, both at Keeneland.

Owned by Donegal Racing, Dullahan is a son of Even  the Score out of the Smart  Strike mare Mining My Own. Bred in  Kentucky by Phil and Judy Needham and Bena Halecky, the chestnut colt was a  $250,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase in 2010.

The wins locks up a place in the starting gate in the Breeders' Cup Classic  for Dullahan as part of the Breeders' Cup Challenge series. The $150,000 entry  fee and $10,000 in shipping costs will be paid if the colt runs.

Jerry Crawford, who oversees the Donegal Racing partnership that owns  Dullahan, said they would wait two weeks and then decide on the colt's next  start.

"People are going to insist that this is a synthetic horse because he has won  three grade Is on synthetic," Crawford said. "But there's no one else in the  country that has won three grade Is on any surface and placed in graded stakes  on the turf and finished third in the Kentucky Derby.

"I would respectfully submit that the question with Dullahan is not what  surface can he run on, but what surface can't he run on?"

Dullahan was racing in fifth on the far turn and closing while about four  paths wide after 6-5 favorite Game On Dude had taken charge over Suggestive  Boy. Game On Dude still led at the sixteenth pole by about a length  but could not contain Dullahan, who challenged under strong right-handed urging  from Rosario to get up in the final strides.

Richard's  Kid, who encountered traffic issues on the final turn, got through  along the inside and finished well to be third in the field of 10, 3 1/4 lengths  behind the victorious Dullahan.

Most of the pre-race attention was focused on the sale of two-time Pacific  Classic winner Richard's Kid a week before the race by Zabeel Racing  International to a group headed by Paul Boghossian's Triple B Farms. Trainer Bob  Baffert, who trained Richard's Kid for Zabeel, told the media he felt he "had  his pocket picked" by the surprise move. Baffert was determined to move on with  race favorite Game On Dude and his second entrant, Jaycito.

But the dual grade I winner Game On Dude, who was fourth behind Acclamation  in last year's Pacific Classic, is a better horse on dirt, Baffert has  repeatedly acknowledged. And that may have been the difference in this year's  race as Dullahan proved to be the better Polytrack horse.

Jockey Chantal Sutherland also dropped Game on Dude's left rein in deep  stretch while transferring her whip from her right hand, replays showed. She  said after the race that the mistake did not cost Game On Dude the  race.

"I was switching my stick to the left hand, I pushed my rein loose," she  said. "It was dangling at the end; it looked awful sloppy. I haven't done  something like that in 13 years. But I don't think it affected anything. He was  still doing what he could do. Just unfortunate."

Emotions boiled over at the Pacific Classic draw last Wednesday night, when  angry words were exchanged between Baffert's wife, Jill, and Mark Verge, one of  the new owners of Richard's Kid and the chief executive officer of Santa  Anita.

But all that was pushed aside with Dullahan's victory at odds of 5-1.  Dullahan paid $12.60, $5.20, and $3.40 while taking on older horses for the  first time. Game On Dude returned $3.20 and $2.40, while Richard's Kid paid $3  to show.

"Game On Dude ran a good race, the other horse just got us," Baffert said.  "Dullahan is a nice horse and he thrives on synthetics."

Dullahan was coming off a fifth-place finish in the Haskell Invitational (gr.  I) July 29 at Monmouth  Park, finishing 13 1/2 lengths behind the Baffert-trained Paynter.  The colt ran seventh in the Belmont Stakes (gr. I) prior to that as the 5-2  favorite following his big effort in the Kentucky Derby.

Game On Dude was a bit slow to begin from post 9 as 70-1 shot Riveting  Reason, to his outside, took the early lead and angled over to the  inside as the field made its way through the stretch for the first time. Also  prominent early on were Akkadian,  the Argenita-bred Suggestive Boy, and San Diego Handicap (gr. II) winner Rail  Trip.

Riveting Reason led the first half-mile while posting quick splits for the  distance of :23.61 and :46.98. Game On Dude poked his head in front after six  furlongs were completed in a sprightly 1:11.08.

Rosario was content to allow Dullahan to rate near the rear of the pack as  the race unfolded.

Game On Dude, who won the Hollywood Gold Cup (gr. I) in his most recent race,  led Suggestive Boy by about 1 1/2 lengths while reaching the quarter pole in  1:35.25. He appeared to have plenty left in the stretch run after he opened up  by a couple of lengths.

"When they hit the quarter pole today he was closer than usual to the front,  and he's the only horse I've ever owned that has a three-eighths of a mile  move," Crawford said. "When I saw that Game On Dude was getting the rail trip  and we were going at least four-wide, I thought 'Lord, please don't let us lose  by a neck.'

"But I knew Joel had a tremendous amount of horse, just from the action of  the horse when they turned for home. I thought he would get there, and boy did  he."

Dullahan was under a drive from Rosario on the outside of horses as he  commenced his bid rounding the final bend. There was nothing in his way as he  charged through the lane to win impressively over Game On Dude, whose finish was  somewhat reminiscent of his runner-up finish to Drosselmeyer in last year's  Breeders' Cup Classic.

Rail Trip finished fourth, followed by Suggestive Boy, the champion Chilean  filly Amani, Jaycito, Where's  Sterling, Akkadian, and Riveting Reason.

The winner joined Best Pal in 1991, General Challenge in 1999, and Came Home  as 3-year-old winners of the Pacific Classic. He also became the third to win  the race without racing in his prior start at either Del Mar or Hollywood Park.  Bertrando in 1993, whose prior start was at Monmouth, and Student Council in  2007 after racing at Churchill Downs were the others.

Dullahan's most lucrative triumph, worth $600,000, boosted his bankroll to  $1,702,091. Winless in six tries on dirt, all three of his victories from 12  starts in his career have come on Polytrack. He also has two seconds and three  thirds overall.

More than 60 people associated with Donegal Racing were on hand on a sunny,  75-degree day along the Pacific Ocean.

"Some of them had never found their way out here from Iowa before," Crawford  said.

Success Of Romans Reason For Late Summer Smiles

Dale Romans.

Louisville-born Dale Romans has pulled from many sources through the years while crafting his philosophy and style training Thoroughbreds, and has enjoyed enormous success over the past decade or so.

But he has never enjoyed a year quite like 2012, and more than four months remain on the calendar.

Romans celebrated two milestones last week. On Tuesday, he celebrated his 46th birthday and, on Saturday, Romans saddled Little Mike to score an upset victory in the Grade I Arlington Million at Chicago’s Arlington Park.

The Million, run at 1 ¼ miles on the grass, has been one of America’s top turf tests since it was introduced back in 1981, when a $1 million purse was truly spectacular. The legendary John Henry, piloted by the equally legendary Bill Shoemaker, took its inaugural running when the young Romans was only 15.

Saturday’s front-running romp was the first victory in the Arlington Million for Romans, who also scored a surprise victory with Little Mike in the Woodford Reserve Turf Classic on Kentucky Derby Day.

Little Mike’s exploits in Chicago provide the latest evidence that Romans is compiling a body of work in 2012 that should have him in the discussion at the year of the season for the Eclipse Award that goes to America’s leading trainer.

Romans has not been a serious part of that debate despite fabulous success in recent years at his home base at Churchill Downs, where he now trails only Hall of Famer Bill Mott in the category of all-time victories, and other major tracks in the East, Southeast and Midwest.

And that conversation is a long way from his days of learning about Thoroughbreds on the Churchill Downs backside with his late father, trainer Jerry Romans. The elder Romans enjoyed success on the Kentucky racing circuit, but his primary focus was on claiming horses, with occasional success in allowance races and minor stakes events.

After notching his first victory in a Triple Crown race in 2011 with Shackleford and earning a Breeders’ Cup upset when longshot Court Vision won the Mile, Romans’ 2012 has been even more memorable. The Million was added to a roster of impressive wins on the year that includes triumphs by Shackleford in Belmont Park’s prestigious Grade I Metropolitan Handicap and the Churchill Downs on Derby Day;  a victory Tapitsfly, owned and bred by longtime client Frank Jones Jr., in the Grade I Just A Game for fillies and mares on turf at Belmont Park; a win in Keeneland’s Grade I Toyota Blue Grass by Donegal Racing’s Dullahan, a half-brother to 2009 Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird finished a charging third to I’ll Have Another in this year’s “Run for the Roses”; and a string of turf triumphs by the 3-year-old Silver Max, who finished third as the favorite in last Saturday’s Grade I Secretariat on the Arlington grass to snap a six-race win streak.

More chances for 2012 glory for Romans come this weekend when Dullahan tackles older foes over synthetic Polytrack in the Grade I Pacific Classic at Del Mar. That 3-year-old star loves the dirt surface at Churchill Downs, but struggles over the natural footing elsewhere. But his two career wins – in the Toyota Blue Grass and Dixiana Breeders’ Futurity, both Grade I races – came over the Keeneland version of that synthetic surface.

That run of success at racing’s highest level is a good distance from the days when the younger Romans absorbed the basics of training Thoroughbreds from his father, whom he lists as his greatest influence. He also benefited from the wealth of training knowledge collected from working around Churchill Downs veterans like Angel Montano and Don Winfree, whose barns are located just steps away from the one that housed Jerry Romans’ stable.

Regardless of what happens between now and New Year’s Eve, it’s been a fantastic year for a Kentucky product who, by training standards, is still a very young man. For fans of Kentucky racing, watching Romans’ success beyond Kentucky’s borders has been one of the joys of the summer.

Silver Max coasts in Oliver

Dana Wells and Marc Bacon's Silver Max rolled to his fifth consecutive win
Wednesday in the $211,100 Oliver Stakes at Indiana Downs. The Badge of Silver colt
showed his customary speed from the start under Victor Lebron, was left
untouched through splits of :23 4/5, :47 and 1:10 3/5, and drew off in the
stretch to win by a lopsided margin of 6 3/4 lengths in track-record time of
1:33 4/5 for one mile on the firm turf.

The 1-10 favorite, Silver Max returned $2.20 to win and $2.10 to place. There
was no show wagering after half of the 12-horse field, including five of the 10
betting interests, were scratched.

The winner's entrymate, Cozzetti, rallied for second by a neck over Travel
Advisory. Completing the order of finish were Az Ridge, Potomac River and Mr.
Prankster. Scratched from the field was another of Silver Max's entrymates,
Quick Wit, as well as Howe Great, Diez, Temeraine, North of Never and Senor
Rain.

Runner-up in his first five starts, Silver Max has lost only once in seven
subsequent outings. After belatedly graduating from maiden company on January
13, the colt returned a little more than two weeks later in the Grade 3 Holy
Bull. Over a sloppy main track Silver Max struggled in the final furlong,
finishing fifth in a field of six.

Returned to the turf for his next start, Silver Max easily captured a starter
allowance/optional claimer in wire-to-wire fashion. He did the same again in the
Grade 3 Transylvania at Keeneland by 5 1/2 lengths on April 6, and in the Grade
2 American Turf at Churchill Downs by 2 3/4 lengths on May 4. Last time, he led
gate-to-wire to win the the May 26 Arlington Classic at Arlington Park by two
lengths.

Trained by Dale Romans, Silver Max might reappear in the Grade 2, $600,000
Virginia Derby at Colonial Downs. He will do with a record of 12-6-5-0,
$503,464.

Bred in Kentucky by Steve Snowden, Seth Lauffer and Will Lauffer, Silver Max
was a $20,000 Fasig-Tipton July yearling. Produced by the Kissin Kris mare
Kissin Rene, he is half-brother to stakes winner True Kiss. This is the extended
family of Grade 1 winner Yes It's True, Grade 2 winner Kiss a Native, and Grade
3 hero Prince of the Mt.

Posted: Friday, May 04, 2012 6:16 PM

For video of this race, click here.

by Teresa Genaro

A late afternoon thunderstorm did nothing to dampen the spirits of the dozens that flooded the winner's circle after Silver Max won the American Turf Stakes (G2) Friday at Churchill Downs.

Trained by Dale Romans and owned by Mark Bacon and Dana Wells, Silver Max went to the front over a firm turf course, setting testing fractions and prevailing.

Less than a week after a major storm halted racing on opening night at Churchill Downs, racing was delayed for a second time when a dangerous storm headed for the track was expected to hit approximately at post time for the race, which was run after a delay of approximately 45 minutes.

Earlier in the day, Romans confronted a stormy situation of another sort with the news that the jockey scheduled to ride Silver Max, Robby Albarado, had been arrested following a domestic dispute. Rafael Bejarano was named to ride.

"I didn't care about the jockey situation from a business level or on the horse's level, but I'm concerned for my friend," said Romans. "This is a really nice horse, a really super turf horse."

Silver Max, a three-year-old Badge of Silver colt out of Kissin Rene, began his carer with a string of five straight second place finishes. He broke his maiden in his sixth start and has won four of his last five races, including three straight, all by generous margins. 

"It was all mental with him," said Romans. "He just didn't  he understood competing early in his career.  When he figured it out, though, he figured it out."

Turning for home, jockey Javier Castellano fell from his mount, Star Channel. Star Channel finished the race and appeared unhurt; Castellano was removed from the course on a stretcher but late walked on his own to the jockeys' room and rode his scheduled mount in the next race, Grace Hall in the Kentucky Oaks.

Posted: Tuesday, April 17, 2012 6:07 PM

by Nicole Russo

Dullahan is a two-time Grade 1 winner on a synthetic surface, multiple graded-stakes placed on turf, and unplaced in three starts on dirt.

Trainer Dale Romans is not concerned about his Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) contender.

“I don’t want to sound arrogant, but I said a long time ago, when he was under the radar screen, I wouldn’t change places with anybody,” Romans said of Donegal Racing’s Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (G1) winner.

Dullahan’s three dirt attempts, all in 2011, came at Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby. The colt—a half brother to 2009 Derby winner Mine That Bird—was third going 5 ½ furlongs last June 9 in his career debut, finishing behind subsequent graded stakes winners Exfactor and Daddy Nose Best; he then finished fifth going six furlongs on July 3 at Churchill.

Dullahan then finished second in a maiden special weight race on the turf at Saratoga Race Course; was third in the With Anticipation Stakes (G2) at that track; and finally broke his maiden in dramatic fashion by taking the Dixiana Breeders’ Futurity (G1) on the synthetic Polytrack surface at Keeneland Race Course. He closed out his juvenile campaign by finishing fourth going 1 1/16 miles on dirt in the Grey Goose Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) on November 5.

“He’s 0-for-3 on dirt, but you can throw out the first two races that were both sprints,” Romans said. “Then you have the Breeders’ Cup, which is shaping up to be the best Breeders’ Cup Juvenile in history.”

In the Juvenile, Dullahan was bumped at the start and, after swinging wide to find running room, found himself in ninth in upper stretch. He closed well to be fourth behind eventual divisional champion Hansen and fellow Derby contenders Union Rags and Creative Cause.

With his victory in the Blue Grass, Dullahan became the ninth horse to emerge from the 2011 Juvenile to win a grade or group stakes in 2012.

“He ran as good a race as anybody [in the Juvenile],” Romans said.

“He trains every day at Churchill Downs and he seems to love the racetrack. I just do not see the dirt being a problem.”

Dullahan, by Even the Score, began his three-year-old campaign with a runner-up finish in the Palm Beach Stakes (G3) on the Gulfstream Park turf on March 11. He then turned in a breakout performance in the Blue Grass, rallying powerfully down the stretch to collar Hansen in the final yards for the win.

“It’s very rewarding. I was just proud of him,” Romans said.

Romans, who said that Dullahan fits his “prototype for a Derby horse,” said the colt’s running style and color remind him of 1986 Kentucky Derby winner Ferdinand, one of his favorite runners.

“I would [compare Dullahan to] like a Ferdinand,” Romans said. “I can see him coming up the rail under Kent like Ferdinand did with Shoemaker.”