Roman's Avenue: An Impressive Maiden

As the field of five 2 year olds paraded out beneath the Twin Spires, the dark bay colt was all the hype. Roman's Avenue, from Donegal Racing, glittered with obvious potential.

Coming from the barn of trainer Dale Romans, of course the crowd would be on their toes. If his Met Mile victory is any indication, The seven-time Kentucky Trainer of the Year is on a hot streak. With a 46 percent rate of landing in the money, his stable has garnered $4.5 million in the early stages of this year. His Belmont hopeful, Dullahan, flew to victory in the G1 Blue Grass, later snatching third in the Kentucky Derby. Also on Derby day, Romans conquered the G1 Woodford Reserve Turf Classic with Little Mike.

In the pedigree, too, Roman's Avenue is sharp. A 2010 colt out of Career Fair, he is sired by the 2007 Kentucky Derby winner, Street Sense. On the track, Street Sense was sensational. To date, he is the only horse to have ever won the Breeder's Cup Juvenile and the Kentucky Derby. Among his offspring are Castaway, Motor City, Street Life and Miss Netta -- all three of which have placed in graded stakes company. A Street Sense foal has yet to win past 1 1/8 miles; however, the sire's own performance shows no reason for worry. Roman's Avenue's dam, Career Fair, is sired by the illustrious Storm Cat. When crossed with Street Sense, Storm Cat mares have made a sum of $335,189 from a total of 4 winners. 3 year old, G3 winner Castaway reigns from the same cross as Roman's Avenue.

In the end, Roman's Avenue was sent off at heavy odds of
1-5 in the maiden special weight event. The starting gate was positioned 4 1/2 furlongs from the wire on the fast, main track of Churchill Downs. Following a tidy break, Roman's Avenue shot for the lead. He set comfy fractions of 23 1/5 and 46.45 before rocketed down the lane to a 4 1/2 length victory.
"All the hype was right!" Declared the announcer.

Roman's Avenue will now be pointed toward the Sanford and Hopeful Stakes. If he continues to improve, this colt could be a huge factor in early races. His dosage profile of 3-1-6-0-0 supports ideas of going on to the classic distances; his dosage index is comfortably low at 2.33.

This colt reminds me very much of Castaway. He has the same high knee action, and powerful way of going. I'd like to see a longer stride on Roman's Avenue, and of course, an attempt that does not involve sprinting for the early lead. The horses he beat were nothing in comparison to the warriors that are yet to come, however, he did everything that was asked of him and a little bit more. His pedigree is unproven, but glossy enough for extended distances. When the pace gets hotter, later this year, Roman's Avenue may or may not be able to maintain this level of dominance. 2 year olds that begin racing in this time of the year often turn out to be overly precocious, with nothing left to give. His sire did not begin racing until early July.

But regardless, Roman's Avenue is a flashy colt. I highly recommend adding him to your Equibase, and sitting back to watch the show. It will be very interesting to see how this colt responds when the rest of the 2 year olds come out to play.