It was just what horse racing needed. The long-striding, medium-sized homebred colt ROMBAUER charged past Kentucky Derby (G1) winner MEDINA SPIRIT and MIDNIGHT BOURBON to win the 146th Preakness Stakes (G1) at Pimlico racetrack in Baltimore on May 15.
Owned by Kentuckians John and Diane Fradkin, who own only a couple of mares and usually breed to sell, Rombauer was 11-to-1 and coming off a third-place finish behind Essential Quality in the Grade 2 Blue Grass Stakes on April 3. In his 2021 debut he won the El Camino Real Derby on the synthetic dirt at Golden Gate Fields.
In fact, Rombauer had not won on the dirt, having taken his debut as a 2-year-old on turf at Del Mar last July. He was a close second in the American Pharoah Stakes (G1) at Santa Anita on the dirt before finishing fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) at Keeneland.
Rombauer by-passed the Derby, much to the chagrin of trainer Michael McCarthy, a former assistant to Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher.
“We had a pretty heated discussion about that. Let’s just leave it at that,” said John Fradkin.
But Rombauer’s fresh legs blew past his battle-worn rivals to win in one of the fastest times in Preakness history, 1:53 3/5. He earned a career-best 102 Beyer Speed Figure according to Daily Racing Form. He has 3 wins from 7 races and earnings of $890,500.
It was a nice result that “little guys” won the second jewel of the American Triple Crown after a tumultuous week in horse racing when Medina Spirit was found to have betamethasone in an initial sample following his Derby win. The Bob Baffert-trained colt had been treated for skin diseases with a cream that contained the anti-inflammatory which is allowed in Kentucky but has a withdrawal time of 14 days.
Michael McCarthy was emotional when he talked to NBC, especially since his wife Erin and daughter Stella were unable to be at the race because of travel from California and the fact that Stella is in school. McCarthy went out on his own in 2014 and trained $5 million earner City of Light who won the Pegasus World Cup (G1) in 2019 and the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile in 2018.
“There are trainers that have a handful of horses that are just as well suited to train hundreds of horses,” said McCarthy when asked about winning the Preakness over the ‘super trainers’ Baffert, Asmussen and Pletcher.
Rombauer did not go in a 2-year-old in training sale last spring and was instead kept by the Fradkins who have raced a few horses since 2009, winning 6 races with earnings of some $300,000.
Rombauer is a son of Twirling Candy (Candy Ride (Arg)) from the Fradkin’s mare Cashmere, whom they also bred. Cashmere, a daughter of Cowboy Cal, did not race and she is a half-sister to Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint winner California Flag ($1.2 million) and Grade 3 turf stakes winner Cambiocorsa ($522,000). Cashmere’s first three foals to race are all winners and two are stakes-placed.
More quotes:
Owner John Fradkin about when the colt began early training:
I’ve got to tell you the first reports weren’t positive. I was hearing he had no speed, and that’s really not what you want to hear when you want to win early with a two-year-old. Michael thought he would do well in one of the early route races, so we ran him July 25th in I believe it was the first — made the special weight, one mile on turf at Del Mar. And he won really impressively.
I thought actually that right after that race there would be some big offers on him and we might sell him, but there weren’t any.
Part of that reason was because the time of the race was rather poor. It was 138 and 3, and it resulted in an initial buyer number of 48. Nobody pays big money for a horse that won and received a 48 buyer.
That didn’t happen, and two weeks later we found out that the times were actually off at Del Mar racetrack. They had installed a new timing system, and it wasn’t working properly and all the times were off.
That was another lucky break because if the real time was given to the horse, he probably would have sold. We probably would have sold him in that time period.
Michael McCarthy: Just really surreal, all of it. I thought the horse would run well. Turning up the backside, I was a little concerned. He’s usually a little bit farther back than that. It’s kind of reminiscent of the Preakness here, laying a little bit closer to the lead.
Coming through the half mile pole, looked like the horse was still traveling well. I saw Chad’s horse inside of us going to three-eighths pole, was starting to go up and down, looked at the horses behind us, didn’t see anybody posing a threat behind us. Two horses in the lead, obviously carried each other through the quarter pole. When we wheeled out coming to the 3/16 pole the head of the lane, I started to get excited.
Watching live, going back to the Jumbotron, when he hit the front, I don’t think I said a word. I certainly didn’t root, at least I don’t think I did. Just kind of watched the horse in a rhythm, him and Flavien.
Stunned is pretty — stunned, not totally surprised, I guess. I don’t know if that makes any sense. The horse had been touting himself here all week. His last two works were very, very good.
Flavien Prat: Yeah, he was pretty on his toes before the race. I thought the groom and the pony girl was with me, they did a good job and we tried to get him to relax, and it worked out well.
Well, I had a great trip. We broke well. Never intend to rush him. Naturally down the backside he was traveling well and was passing horses one by one. So I was pretty confident going to the three-eighths pole, and then as you said, I was behind two — some of the favorites in the race, and I was traveling well, and I thought, well, maybe if he switched it and give me a good kick, I might be able to run them down.
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