Rosieontheriver rolls for third lifetime win

LAUREL, MD – Long layoff. No problem.

Rominski returned from a 259-day break to win his fifth consecutive race, a $56,000 allowance with a $55,000 claiming option for 4-year-olds and upward at six furlongs.

Trained by Brittany Russell and ridden by Sheldon Russell, Rominski was just too fast for these. He broke quickly from the far outside post in the seven-horse field, immediately cleared to the lead and the rail, and relaxed beautifully through fractions of 22.72 and 46.07 seconds.

No Easy Days, who raced in closest attendance to Rominski on the backstretch, loomed outside of the winner in the upper stretch but couldn’t muster the needed rally.

Under the line, it was favored Rominski by 1 ¼ lengths in 1:10.80 over the fast track. On the Mark was another half-length back in third. Bump N Run, Debit Card, Five Dreams, and Shaft’s Bullet completed the order of finish. Seven’s Eleven scratched.

Rominski paid $3.40 to win.

“I was a little concerned I didn’t have him tight enough,” Brittany Russell said. “Sometimes class prevails with these old war horses. If he was a work short, he didn’t look like it.”

Russell claimed Rominski for $55,000 on behalf of Stuart Grant’s The Elkstone Group after the gelding wired the field by four lengths at Laurel on May 25, 2024.

“Worst case scenario, we had to run him back for the $55,000,” Russell continued. “He’s honest, and he’s fast. He was a good horse on form. Obviously, you hope that you claim and think about bumping him up into stakes.”

Twenty-two days later, Rominski dominated a high-level allowance at Pimlico, winning by 5 ¼ lengths in gate-to-wire fashion. For that performance, Rominski received a career-best 101 Beyer Speed Figure.

Russell was a bit surprised by how impressive Rominski was in that race. “He’s kind of tricky in the afternoon. Sheldon was really warming him up, and I thought this horse was quiet.”

After that race, Rominski went to the sidelines. “When I claimed him, he was okay,” Russell stated. “I felt like he could be better. He was a horse that was pretty honestly raced. We just decided that he was a horse that you want in the barn, and you want to keep him healthy. So, Stuart has a farm, and we just gave him a break.”

Russell isn’t sure what’s next for Rominski, a 6-year-old Maryland-bred gelding by Great Notion. She trained Rominski’s half-brother, multiple stakes-winning Whereshetoldmetogo. Still, she noted that Rominski “seems to do better with Lasix,” which could dissuade her from running him back against stakes company even though Rominski has won eight of his last nine starts.

“Sometimes they put up these open allowances,” Russell said. “We’ll see how he goes. If we run him in a stake, and he doesn’t run good, then we know where we stand.” Wherever Rominski appears next, he’ll have his trainer’s complete confidence.

“When he’s right and he’s healthy, he just does things really easy,” Russell said.

Rosieontheriver rolls for third lifetime win

Raul Mena felt that getting Rosieontheriver to relax behind horses was the key to his mount’s rallying victory in today’s fifth race, a $49,000 first-level allowance with a $62,500 claiming option for 3-year-old fillies at one mile.

Although Rosieontheriver prefers to race from off the pace, Mena gave her a brisk warmup leaving the post parade.

“She likes to be on the bit, and when you start riding, she stays in the same position,” Mena offered. “It was part of the plan to warm her up the best way possible to be closer to the pace.”

There wasn’t much early speed on paper, and Complexity Jane, fresh off overcoming a poor start to post a maiden victory last month, went right to the lead under jockey Sheldon Russell.

Complexity Jane set fractions of 24.10 and 47.59 while pressured first by Mad for Maddy and then by Estocada. The chalk dismissed both those challenges after six furlongs in 1:13.30 and opened a two-length lead in the early stages of the long stretch run.

Although Rosieontheriver raced in last through the first two furlongs, she pulled Mena forward four wide on the backstretch to stay within three lengths of the lead.

Rosieontheriver appeared one-paced while urged along at the three-eighths pole as Mena eased her inward slightly to race a few lengths behind Estocada.

“When I put her in the clear, she started to drop the bit,” Mena said. “On the turn, I put her in behind horses, and she started fighting against the bit and came back to my hands. I thought that I was in the right spot because you have to keep her interested in the race.”

Rosieontheriver was very interested in the final sixteenth of a mile as she kicked down a hard-trying Complexity Jane to prevail by three-quarters of a length in 1:40.40. Estocada was 2 ¼ lengths back in third. Then came Chickin Lickin and Mad for Maddy.

Rosieontheriver paid $10.60 as the fourth betting choice. Moon Cache and Point Unlimited scratched.

Timber Town Stable and John Stuart bred the winner in Kentucky, and Rosieontheriver sold for $10,000 as an April juvenile at OBS. She is by Kantharos out of Dark Artist, a multiple stakes-winning turf router by Paynter. Her third dam, Fleet Renee, captured the Grade 1 Ashland and Grade 1 Mother Goose.

Owned by David Gruskos, Rosieontheriver graduated in her second start last year, a $25,000 maiden claimer racing 5 ½ furlongs at Monmouth. Transferred from trainer Jose Delgado to Claudio Gonzalez, Rosieontheriver completed her juvenile campaign with a victory for the $50,000 claiming option at 1 1/16 miles on Dec. 27.

Gonzalez turned Rosieontheriver back to six furlongs for her most recent start, and she only passed tired horses to finish fifth of seven over a muddy track.

“The race we were waiting for didn’t go,” Mena said. “So, [Gonzalez] put her in the shorter-distance race. She ran good, but she was too far [back].”

Rosieontheriver boasts three wins from six starts for earnings of $83,870.

Around the track:

Laurel Park hosts two $75,000 stakes races for state-bred or -sired performers on Saturday, March 8. The Conniver for fillies and mares at seven furlongs drew a field of ten and includes stakes-winners Intrepid Dream, Gold Digging Broad, Malibu Moonshine, Call Another Play, Spencerian and Bourbon Bon Bay…Seven entered the Not For Love for 4-year-olds and upward at six furlongs with stakes-winners Speedyness and Circle P among the top contenders. Bailintin, recently third in the Nellie Morse Stakes, breezed a half-mile this morning in 49.80 seconds for trainer Rudy Sanchez-Salomon…Live racing resumes on Friday, March 7 with a nine-race program. The first post time is 12:10 ET…There is a $9,548.13 carryover into the Chesapeake Pick 6.