Trainer Dale Romans was beaming Tuesday, the morning after he saddled
Shackleford to a front-running nose victory in Belmont Park’s Grade 1
Metropolitan Handicap.
“I think that was one of the most important wins of my career,” said Romans,
who had previously won top-level races like the Whitney Handicap and Dubai World
Cup with Roses In May, the Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational with Kitten’s
Joy, the Preakness with Shackleford, and the Breeders’ Cup Mile with Court
Vision. “It’s a prestigious race for a stallion, and with his body of work, to
put that on his resume puts him over the top. He should make a great stallion.
He’s so sound, never had any issues. He’s got speed and endurance. It’s just a
tough combination.”
Romans said the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile in November will be the
long-term objective for Shackleford, who will now get a few days of rest at
WinStar Farm in Kentucky.
“We started with the Met Mile and worked back to the beginning of the year,
and now we’ll start with the Breeders’ Cup and work back,” Romans said. “There’s
nothing to say he won’t go a mile and an eighth. The Whitney (Handicap at
Saratoga on August 4) is out there. So is the (Grade 1) Woodward (at Saratoga on
September 1). There are some interesting things to think about.”
Romans, who declared last week that the Met Mile could end up being the “race
of the year,” lauded Shackleford for how he used his speed to run To Honor and
Serve and Jackson Bend into submission, and then held off a late bid from
Caleb’s Posse.
“It looked like the momentum was going to take (Caleb’s Posse) by, but when
he got next to him I think they could have gone around again and he wouldn’t
have gotten by,” Romans said. “I think it’s a good rivalry we have going (with
Caleb’s Posse). (Shackleford) beat all the best yesterday. The race lived up to
the hype, which is rare in any sporting event.”
In addition to Shackleford, the connections of the other three Memorial Day
stakes winners — Grade 2 Sands Point victress Better Lucky, Grade 1 Acorn
heroine Contested, and Grade 1 Ogden Phipps winner It’s Tricky — reported
Tuesday morning that their horses came out of their respective races in good
order, and that future plans had yet to be determined.
“We’re just too excited,” said Bob Baffert, who spoke via telephone and who
trains Contested for his wife, Jill. “We’ve never owned a horse this good. If I
were training her for someone else, I could tell you exactly what we were going
to do. She’s really just coming to hand right now, and I want to space her races
out.”
It’s Tricky, who earned her third Grade 1 with her hard-fought victory over
Cash for Clunkers, eagerly munched on a special treat of dandelion roots and
leaves in her stall as her future plans remain undecided as well.
“She’s great,” trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said. “We don’t know what we’re
going to do next with her, though.”
Better Lucky, whose Sands Point victory came in her turf debut, also emerged
from her race in good shape, said trainer Tom Albertrani.
“The thing with her now is we can go either way, grass or dirt,” he said. “It
opens up a lot of options.”
Albertrani added that Zo Impressive, second to Contested in the Acorn, would
most likely start next in the Grade 1 Mother Goose on June 23, and that Buffum,
winner of an allowance, was under consideration for the Grade 2 Suburban
Handicap on July 7.
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