Romans seeks first KJC win

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 all2-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.

Destin on the cutback

A gutsy triumph by Destin in the Grade 2 Marathon Stakes on the Nov. 3 Breeders’ Cup undercard at Del Mar was enough to encourage the 4-year-old colt’s connections to return to more commonly run distances. So here is Destin, turning back from that 1 3/4-mile race to the 1 1/8 miles of the Clark Handicap on Friday at Churchill for trainer Todd Pletcher.

“We really feel like he’s turned the corner the last couple of months and is very focused right now,” said Randy Gullatt, whose Twin Creeks Racing shares ownership in Destin with the Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners of Aron Wellman.

Gullat said that Pletcher was impressed with how Destin was doing after his last work, a halfmile in 49.90 at Belmont on Nov. 17.

“We know he has plenty of talent and stamina, and [Pletcher] is quite happy with how he’s doing,” Gullatt said. “After the last work, he said, ‘Look, we need to take a shot with him somewhere.’ So this is the spot we picked out.”

A mild upset by Destin would give Pletcher his third victory in the race and tie him for most wins by a trainer in the Clark with three others: Ben Jones, Smiley Adams, and Bob Baffert. Pletcher won in 2005 with Magna Graduate and 2007 with A.P. Arrow.

Ivy Bell due for some luck

Ivy Bell has endured more than her share of misadventure, so owner Brook Smith and trainer Billy Denzik are hoping the talented 4-year-old filly can end the year on a positive note Friday at Churchill in the $80,000 Dream Supreme.

Since last November, Ivy Bell has finished first in four of six starts, but she was disqualified from one of those wins for a medication violation and was impeded as the odds-on favorite in another race, causing her to throw jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. Then, last month she was trying to earn a spot in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint in the Thoroughbred Club of America Stakes at Keeneland, but she acted up when being loaded into the starting gate and was scratched.

“She’ll get a little breather after this,” said Smith. “The dream is to set her on a campaign that will bring her back to Churchill next year for the Filly-Mare Sprint.”

Hernandez rides Ivy Bell again in the Dream Supreme.

A field of 10 fillies and mares is entered in the six-furlong Dream Supreme, which directly precedes the Clark as the 10th of 12 races on Friday. Other top contenders in the Dream Supreme include Kathballu, Athena, Auntjenn, and Mayla.

◗ Following a compulsory review by the American Graded Stakes Committee after the race was transferred last Saturday from the turf to the main track, the Cardinal Handicap has kept its Grade 3 status. Tricky Escape, trained by Lynn Ashby, won the 1 1/8-mile race in a field that was reduced to seven starters from its original 12 following the surface switch.