Romans has a well-traveled chance to win Ky. Jockey Club

Louisville, Ky.

As promising 2-year-olds go, there is not much that looks unusual on Stretch Ride’s past performances. He is 2-for-2 with a maiden win at Churchill Downs and a convincing allowance victory at Keeneland.

But look up there above the sire line. It says the son of Street Sense was sold for the curious sum of $108,500. Actually, it was €100,000.

“He came in from Europe, and he’s gotten bigger and stronger almost weekly,” his trainer Dale Romans said. “I think we’ve got a big upside with this horse.”

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A funny thing happened to Stretch Ride on his way to becoming the morning-line second choice for Saturday’s Grade 2, $400,000 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes, a points prep for Kentucky Derby 2024. How did a colt bred in U.S. horse country wind up across the ocean in France but not make his debut until he landed in a maiden race about 80 miles from where he was foaled?

“He’s got a lot of miles under him,” Romans said at his barn office Wednesday. “He was bought at Keeneland (last fall) for $5,000, and the guys flew him to Europe to sell him in the breeze-up sale over there.”

A retracing of the early steps seems in order. Jackpot Farm, a relatively new Lexington, Ky., operation built by Mississippi-based casino owner Terry Green, is best known for having produced 2019 Hopeful (G1) winner Basin. It paid $75,000 to breed Quality Road mare Q Go Girl to Street Sense.

The result was a colt who would go for $5,000 as hip 1504 in the October 2022 Fasig-Tipton yearling sale. Tommy and Wyndee Eastham did the pin-hooking, and seven months later Stretch Ride was in the Arqana sales ring in France.

Enter Kip Elser, who breaks and trains young horses for West Point Thoroughbreds at Kirkwood Farm in South Carolina. Guess where he was that day in May.

“Kip Elser just happened to be there,” Romans said. “He liked him. He called (West Point founder) Terry Finley. Terry told him to go buy him, and he bought him, and Kip got us a good horse for 100,000 (euros). Those people did very well who bought him for ($5,000), but he’s very well-traveled.”

Once Stretch Ride arrived at Romans’s barn, it was not long before he was hitting the work tab at Churchill Downs. Six breezes led to a debut victory Sept. 17 in a $120,000 race covering six furlongs. Agoo, the colt Stretch Ride rallied to beat that day by a half-length, came back to break his maiden the next time out.

Stretch Ride really made his mark Oct. 14 going the 1 1/16-mile distance that he will be asked to cover again Saturday. After stalking the early pace, he took the lead on the backstretch at Keeneland and ran on to a 5 3/4-length triumph that earned him an 87 Beyer Speed Figure, according to Daily Racing Form.

“If you watch his last race, he never came off his left lead off the turn over at Keeneland,” Romans said. “If he does that, and he learns how to run, and he gets a little more focused, he came in from Europe, and he’s gotten bigger and stronger almost weekly, I think we’ve got a big upside with his horse.”

Romans said Stretch Ride already has distinguished himself as a standout in the nearly four decades he has been training Thoroughbreds.

“I’ve had very few horses win their first two races at 2,” he said. “Promises Fulfilled is about the only one I can think of off the top of my head. Usually, a horse that does that is a very talented horse and has a bright future.”

Martín Chuan, a native of Perú who is represented by Roman’s son Jake, will be Stretch Ride’s for the third time Saturday.

“This is a good race coming in here, and you really don’t know how good these 2-year-olds are for a couple months down the road, and you see them start competing on the Derby trail,” Romans said. “This is a big step forward.”

The Kentucky Jockey Club, which awards 10-5-3-2-1 points to the top five finishers, has not produced a Derby winner since Super Saver won the prep in 2009 and the roses in 2010. Romans, 57, a native of Louisville, also is looking for his first victory in America’s biggest race.

While he knows it is way too soon to suggest Stretch Ride will end those droughts, Romans thinks he already has something special with this horse who took one of the most unlikely paths to his stable.

“I always tell everybody there’s three types of horses,” he said. “Horses you train hard and they can’t handle it, the ones that can handle it, and the ones that move forward from it. He’s the latter. He’s one of those horses that, the more I do with him, it seems like the better and stronger he gets. This will be his second race around two turns. Hopefully we’re going to have a big race out of it.”