Romansh Placed First in Rough Renewal of Curlin Stakes
Darley Stable's Romansh was declared the winner of the $100,000 Curlin on Friday at Saratoga Race Course after Transparent, the other half of the Darley entry, crossed the finish line first but was disqualified to fifth.
Ridden by Junior Alvarado, Romansh stumbled twice coming out of the gate but soon reestablished himself and ran in fifth as Cerro and Bad Hombre led the field of seven 3-year-olds through steady fractions of 24.00 seconds for a quarter-mile and 48.08 for the half. Rounding the turn, Romansh moved up three-wide to stick his head in front, but was outkicked through the stretch and finished two lengths behind Transparent.
Transparent, however, had bothered Proud Strike while advancing five-wide at the quarter-pole and the two horses clipped heels. Following a stewards' inquiry and a claim of foul by Ricardo Santana, Jr., the jockey aboard Proud Strike, Transparent was disqualified for interference.
"I have to say that's not the idea going in, to run two and hope they run 1-2, and they have to reverse the order," said Darley president Jimmy Bell. "Both horses ran winning races."
The winning time for 1 1/8 miles was 1:49.56.
Romansh, making just his fourth career start, returned $4.80 for a $2 win wager as he earned his second straight victory. The Bernardini colt was a 5 ½-length maiden winner in his previous start on May 25 at Belmont Park. Overall, he is 2-0-1 from four starts, with earnings of $123,580.
Bell said both Romansh and Transparent, who was coming off a 10 3/4-length allowance win on April 4 at Aqueduct Racetrack, would be under consideration for the Grade 1, $1 million Travers on August 24.
"Making his fourth lifetime start, that was a big step forward [for Romansh] and shows he belongs with these upper-division 3-year-olds," said Bell.
Bad Hombre, who was moved up to second, crossed the finish line third, just ahead of Edge of Reality, who was placed third. Following Edge of Reality under the wire were Proud Strike, Keg Party, and Cerro.