Against the odds, Rombauer and owners with Fresno ties can take 2nd jewel in Triple Crown

The plan was to sell, because that’s the business John and Diane Fradkin are in. They run a small commercial thoroughbred breeding operation with two broodmares, Cashmere in Kentucky and Letthepartybegin at Old English Rancho in Sanger. Their progeny go to sales, either as yearlings or 2-year-olds in training, and that’s always the plan.

But twice it didn’t work out with a colt named Rombauer and at some point, intrigued by his talent and temperament, they buckled up and settled in for a ride that for now is highlighted by a win in the Preakness Stakes and includes a 1 1/2-mile trip in the Belmont on Saturday with a chance to win two-thirds of the Triple Crown.

“It was kind of serendipitous, I guess,” said Diane Fradkin, who grew up in Fresno, graduated from Figarden Elementary, Tenaya Middle School, San Joaquin Memorial High and then Fresno State. “I think if you’re in this business long enough you have your day in the sun and it’s just our turn.”

Rombauer was headed to the Ocala Breeders Sales for 2-year-olds in training last April, but with the industry working through the COVID-19 pandemic, the Fradkin’s consignor said the sale might be delayed or might not happen at all. It was suggested that maybe taking the horse to the race track would be the best play in selling the horse – Cashmere, Rombauer’s dam (mother), had produced horses that won early.

They did that, sending Rombauer to trainer Michael McCarthy.

The Fradkins were hopeful a solid first race would ignite some interest in the horse, and Rombauer won it by a half-length, going to post a 16/1 long shot in a one-mile turf race for maidens (non-winners) at Del Mar. It was a visually impressive race – Rombauer was impeded briefly in the stretch while rocketing by six horses to win. But the final time was a sluggish 1:38.3, as it turned out due to a timing malfunction.

“We averted the sale of this horse twice, and then our trainer suggested that since it was the pandemic and everyone’s schedules were off, let’s enter the horse in the Grade I American Pharoah at Santa Anita on the dirt,” Diane Fradkin said. “We said, ‘OK …’

“He didn’t win, but he finished second and he ran really well. That’s sort of how we got here. That put us on to the classic dirt races.”

3-year-old Triple Crown campaign

They took a shot at the Breeder’s Cup Juvenile at Keeneland to end 2020, finishing fifth, then kicked off a 3-year-old campaign with a narrow victory in the El Camino Real Derby on the synthetic surface at Golden Gate Fields.

From there, they had a number of options including the Santa Anita Derby, the Wood Memorial, the Arkansas Derby.

“We tried to manage the horse the best we could given what we knew about him at the time,” Diane Fradkin said. “There were a lot of good horses at Santa Anita this year early in the year and some of those races were coming up really tough. We could have run our best race and still finished fourth or fifth and, heck, it’s more fun winning than finishing fifth.”

They chose the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland and Rombauer was a well-beaten third to Essential Quality and Highly Motivated, which tempered any Derby Fever. McCarthy wanted to run in the Kentucky Derby, and Rombauer had the points needed to make the field. But the Fradkins opted to point the horse toward the Preakness Stakes.

That decision will be magnified, if Rombauer ends up in the winner’s circle on Saturday.

Before COVID-19 scrambled the racing calendar in 2020, the last time a horse won the Preakness and Belmont after not entering the Kentucky Derby? It was Pillory in 1922, and it was an either/or for its connections. The Triple Crown races were run in the same order from 1932 to 2019 – Kentucky Derby, then the Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes. But in 1922, the Derby and the Preakness were run on the same day, May 13.

“I know a lot of people think we were crazy, but it came up again: ‘He could run his best race and finish ninth and we’d go, ‘Well, that was fun …’” Diane Fradkin said.

“We sat out, let everybody else kind of beat each other up and sometimes it just works out. He ran his best race in the Preakness, and I think maybe he was just starting to round into form. They’re all peaking at different times and they’re all growing as 3-year-olds. He’s coming into form and hopefully he can carry that through.”

No matter what happens on Saturday, there are no regrets over the Derby. There were none before the race, and none after it. The Fradkins didn’t think it the best fit for the horse, and whether fate or the fickle nature of the sport, with Rombauer things have had a way of working out.

“It’s a tough business,” Diane Fradkin said. “The highs are high and the lows are low. It’s moments like these that keep you invested and there’s always something to look forward to, whether it’s the next race or the next mating you’re planning or the next foal being born. There is a lot of optimism.”