Dale Romans had nothing but good things to say to me when my Father died and I could never say a bad word about the guy. And wouldn't have even if that had not occurred.

A lot of guys percentages are down. How is Pletcher doing at Saratoga? Servis is no longer 40%. The Cali Cartel has come back to earth. Chad has all the good ones so his numbers should be up but they are not crazy up. Dale has some ok stock not great this year. Sometimes you get hot like a Little Mike or Shackleford, and sometimes you don't. Those owners are still around but they aren't winning big. Case in point see Zayat. You need the horses these days.

I'm not sure breaking a Maiden at Saratoga means what it used to mean. And when was the last time a Hopeful Winner did anything at 3? The Champagne maybe a different story.

Romans was there Saturday at Ellis. And so was his second father and my good friend mentor Mr Frank Jones who is 82. They made the trip down from Louisville to see a maiden in the middle of the day in July. Chads Complexity last year POPPPED at the Spa, won the Champagne and has stopped to walk twice since (BC Juvy and Woody Stephens). Lots of ways to skin a cat these days. We will see where this one goes from here....