Dale L. Romans (born August 14, 1966 in
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...
) is an American
Thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are c ...
racehorse trainer, best known for winning the
2011 Preakness Stakes
The 2011 Preakness Stakes was the 136th running of the Preakness Stakes and was won by Shackleford. The race took place on May 21, 2011, and was televised in the United States on the NBC television network. The post time was EDT ( UTC). The race ...
with
Shackleford
Shackleford is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Guildford, Surrey, England centred to the west of the A3 between Guildford and Petersfield southwest of London and southwest of Guildford. Shackleford includes the localities of ...
and the
Breeders' Cup Turf
The Breeders' Cup Turf is a Weight for Age Thoroughbred horse race on turf for three-year-olds and up. It is held annually at a different racetrack in the United States or Canada as part of the Breeders' Cup World Championships. The race's current ...
with
Little Mike
Little Mike (foaled May 24, 2007 in Florida) is an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the 2012 Breeders' Cup Turf.
Background
Little Mike is a bay gelding bred by Carlo Vaccarezza, who immigrated to the United States from I ...
. He also upset
American Pharoah in the 2015
Travers Stakes
The Travers Stakes is an American Grade I Thoroughbred horse race held at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York. It is nicknamed the "Mid-Summer Derby" and is the third-ranked race for American three-year-olds according to internation ...
with
Keen Ice
Keen Ice (foaled March 25, 2012) is an American Thoroughbred racehorse, best known for winning the 2015 Travers Stakes in an upset win over Triple Crown Champion American Pharoah. He previously faced off against American Pharoah and other notab ...
. He won the 2012
Eclipse Award for Outstanding Trainer.
Background and early career
Dale Romans is the son of trainer Jerry Romans and grew up around horses at
Churchill Downs
Churchill Downs is a horse racing complex located on Central Avenue in south Louisville, Kentucky, United States, famed for hosting the annual Kentucky Derby. It officially opened in 1875 and was named for Samuel Churchill, whose family was ...
in Louisville. He graduated from Butler High School in 1984 despite having
dyslexia
Dyslexia, also known until the 1960s as word blindness, is a disorder characterized by reading below the expected level for one's age. Different people are affected to different degrees. Problems may include difficulties in spelling words, r ...
.
Romans worked for his father from a young age. He once said, "I had a way with the horses. I could walk the worst horse in the country when I was 10 years old. My parents were divorced, and if my father had a bad horse he couldn't get on the van he'd come and get me at home to load the horse. I don't know what it was about horses, but they saved me as a child. The guys who worked for my dad took me in and I always felt at home here. I didn't have to worry about reading and writing. I could communicate with the horses. Whatever primal instinct we have with horses, we're connected to them."
At age eighteen, Romans embarked on a career as a trainer, getting his first winner on February 15, 1987 at
Turfway Park
Turfway Park is an American horse racing track located within the city limits of Florence, Kentucky, about south of the Ohio River at Cincinnati. The track conducts live Thoroughbred horse racing during two meets each year—Holiday (December), ...
with Miss Mindy, who he had purchased for $1,500.
His career was slow to take off. He won only four races in each of 1987 and 1989, and only 21 races in each of 1988 and 1990.
It was not until 1991 that he won his first stakes race at Turfway Park with Morning Punch, and not until 1996 that he won his first
graded stakes race
A graded stakes race is a thoroughbred horse race in the United States that meets the criteria of the American Graded Stakes Committee of the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association (TOBA). A specific grade level (I, II, III or listed) is then ...
at Aqueduct with Victor Avenue.
Romans has been in a long-term relationship with Tammy Fox since the early 1990s.
[ Fox is an exercise rider for the Romans stable, and was formerly a jockey. She was the first woman jockey to ride in the ]Blue Grass Stakes
The Blue Grass Stakes, currently the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes due to sponsorship by the Toyota Motor Corporation, is a horse race for 3-year-old Thoroughbreds held annually in April at Keeneland Racecourse in Lexington, Kentucky. The race is run ...
, finishing fourth in 1991. She retired from racing in 2005 after a career that included 236 wins. The couple live in Louisville and have two children, Bailey and Jake.
Jerry Romans once trained from Barn 4 at Churchill Downs, which is now one of two barns used by his son. Romans said, "We have a great team from top to bottom. We have hotwalkers that have been with us for over 10 years. My assistants have been together since we were 19 and 20 working for my father. And Tammy is a huge part of the stable. She breezes all the horses, and there is nobody that gives a better line on a horse than she does."
Career
Romans' career slowly grew, with 2004 marking his breakout year when he jumped to the #8 ranked trainer by earnings in North America. He achieved his first grade I victory with Roses in May
Roses In May (foaled February 9, 2000) is an American Thoroughbred racehorse who won 8 of his 13 races, including the 2005 Dubai World Cup, and earned $5,490,187.
Background
Roses In May, a black horse with a white star and snip, was bred by Marg ...
in the 2004 Whitney Handicap, and followed up with victories by Kitten's Joy in the 2004 Secretariat Stakes
The Secretariat Stakes is a Graded stakes race, Grade I American Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds over a distance of one mile on the Grass, turf. The event was originally raced at the now-closed Arlington Park in Arlington Heights, Illi ...
and the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational Handicap. Kitten's Joy also ran second to Better Talk Now
Better Talk Now (February 25, 1999 – June 27, 2017) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the Breeders' Cup Turf in 2004. His racing career stretched over nine seasons, during which he won 14 times, five of them Grade ...
in the 2004 Breeders' Cup Turf
The Breeders' Cup Turf is a Weight for Age Thoroughbred horse race on turf for three-year-olds and up. It is held annually at a different racetrack in the United States or Canada as part of the Breeders' Cup World Championships. The race's current ...
and was voted the Eclipse Award for American Champion Male Turf Horse.
In 2005, Roses in May
Roses In May (foaled February 9, 2000) is an American Thoroughbred racehorse who won 8 of his 13 races, including the 2005 Dubai World Cup, and earned $5,490,187.
Background
Roses In May, a black horse with a white star and snip, was bred by Marg ...
provided Romans with the biggest payday of his career to date when he won the $6 million Dubai World Cup. Unfortunately, Roses In May was then diagnosed with a tendon injury and was retired.
In 2006, Romans earned his 1,000th career victory on June 11 with Haiaccept at Churchill Downs. Later that year though, he parted ways with owners Kenneth and Sarah Ramsey
Kenneth L. "Ken" Ramsey (born 1935) and Sarah Kathern "Kitten" Ramsey (February 5, 1939 – May 29, 2022) are horse breeders and owners of Thoroughbred race horses. They have multiple graded stakes winners, three Breeders' Cup winners, and the R ...
, for whom he had trained both Roses in May and Kitten's Joy. It would take several years for Romans' stable to recover.
Romans collected his first Breeders' Cup
The Breeders' Cup World Championships is an annual series of Grade I Thoroughbred horse races, operated by Breeders' Cup Limited, a company formed in 1982. From its inception in 1984 through 2006, it was a single-day event; starting in 2007, ...
win in 2009
File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...
when Tapitsfly
Tapitsfly (foaled February 25, 2007 in Kentucky) is an American Thoroughbred racehorse.
Background
Tapitsfly is a gray mare from the second crop of three-time leading sire Tapit. Tapit won the 2004 Wood Memorial Stakes as a three-year-old and ...
won the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf
The Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf is a one-mile turf stakes race for thoroughbred fillies two years old. As its name implies, it is part of the Breeders' Cup World Championships, the ''de facto'' year-end championship for North American thoro ...
. In 2010, the Romans-trained Paddy O'Prado
Paddy O'Prado (February 15, 2007 – October 22, 2018) was an American Thoroughbred racehorse. Bred by Winchell Thoroughbreds, he finished third in the 2010 Kentucky Derby. His regular jockey was Kent Desormeaux.
Racing career
Paddy O'Prado wa ...
finished third in the Kentucky Derby, while First Dude First Dude may refer to:
* First Dude (horse), an American Thoroughbred racehorse
* First Gentleman, the unofficial title used in some countries for the spouse of an elected head of state
* Todd Palin
Todd Mitchell Palin (born September 6, 1964 ...
finished second in the Preakness Stakes and third in the Belmont.
The next year, Shackleford
Shackleford is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Guildford, Surrey, England centred to the west of the A3 between Guildford and Petersfield southwest of London and southwest of Guildford. Shackleford includes the localities of ...
gained Romans his first Classic win in the 2011 Preakness Stakes
The 2011 Preakness Stakes was the 136th running of the Preakness Stakes and was won by Shackleford. The race took place on May 21, 2011, and was televised in the United States on the NBC television network. The post time was EDT ( UTC). The race ...
after finishing fourth in the Derby. Romans said, "It shows that anybody that gets started in the horse business can do this because, Lord knows, 25 years ago nobody thought I'd sit up here and talk about (winning) a classic race." Shackleford finished second in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile
The Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile is a Weight for Age stakes race for thoroughbred racehorses three years old and up. As its name implies, it is part of the Breeders' Cup World Championships, the ''de facto'' year-end championship for North American t ...
, while Court Vision won the Breeders' Cup Turf
The Breeders' Cup Turf is a Weight for Age Thoroughbred horse race on turf for three-year-olds and up. It is held annually at a different racetrack in the United States or Canada as part of the Breeders' Cup World Championships. The race's current ...
. Romans finished 2011 ranked #8 in North America by earnings.
In 2012, Romans had another outstanding year, winning three Grade 1 races with Little Mike
Little Mike (foaled May 24, 2007 in Florida) is an American Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the 2012 Breeders' Cup Turf.
Background
Little Mike is a bay gelding bred by Carlo Vaccarezza, who immigrated to the United States from I ...
alone – the Woodford Reserve Turf Classic
The Turf Classic Stakes is a Grade I American thoroughbred horse race for open to horses aged four and older, over a distance of one and one-eighth miles, on the turf held annually in early May on the Kentucky Derby day meeting at Churchill Downs ...
, Arlington Million, and Breeders' Cup Turf
The Breeders' Cup Turf is a Weight for Age Thoroughbred horse race on turf for three-year-olds and up. It is held annually at a different racetrack in the United States or Canada as part of the Breeders' Cup World Championships. The race's current ...
. That year, Romans also trained Dullahan to victories in the Blue Grass Stakes
The Blue Grass Stakes, currently the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes due to sponsorship by the Toyota Motor Corporation, is a horse race for 3-year-old Thoroughbreds held annually in April at Keeneland Racecourse in Lexington, Kentucky. The race is run ...
and The Pacific Classic, plus a third-place finish in the Kentucky Derby
The Kentucky Derby is a horse race held annually in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, almost always on the first Saturday in May, capping the two-week-long Kentucky Derby Festival. The competition is a Grade I stakes race for three-year ...
, Shackleford won the Metropolitan Handicap and Clark Handicap, while Tapitsfly earned Grade I victories in the Just A Game and First Lady Stakes
The First Lady Stakes is a Grade I American thoroughbred horse race for fillies & mares, age three and older over a distance of one mile on the turf held annually in October at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Kentucky during the fall meeting.
...
. Romans finished the year ranked #4 in North American trainer's earnings and also earned the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Trainer and the Big Sport of Turfdom Award.
Romans is also the trainer of Keen Ice
Keen Ice (foaled March 25, 2012) is an American Thoroughbred racehorse, best known for winning the 2015 Travers Stakes in an upset win over Triple Crown Champion American Pharoah. He previously faced off against American Pharoah and other notab ...
, notable for his August 2015 win over Triple Crown-winner American Pharoah in the Travers Stakes
The Travers Stakes is an American Grade I Thoroughbred horse race held at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York. It is nicknamed the "Mid-Summer Derby" and is the third-ranked race for American three-year-olds according to internation ...
. Romans confidently predicted the upset, with Keen Ice winning at 16–1 odds. "That was a special day," Romans said. "What was so reassuring and made me feel so good was that they cheered us all the way back. It was very sporting of them to appreciate a big effort from a horse, whether it's American Pharoah or not. I never expected that."
References
Dale Romans at the NTRA
{{DEFAULTSORT:Romans, Dale L.
1966 births
Living people
American horse trainers
Horse trainers from Louisville, Kentucky
Butler High School alumni