“I’m ready for an adventure and I’m so sick of what’s happened to the sport in the U.S. I’m done with it...I’m a horseman and I think races should be won by the better horseman, not something else."
Trainer Dale Romans is no stranger to success in Thoroughbred circles, having won the prestigious Dubai World Cup with Roses in May in 2005 and training horses the likes of 2011 Preakness winner Shackleford and Keen Ice, one of the few to boast a victory over Triple Crown winner American Pharoah. But the Kentucky native was lashing out this past weekend with some disparaging comments with respect to the U.S. Thoroughbred racing industry. In fact, he made it quite clear he'd like to race in Hong Kong.
"I was very impressed with what I saw in Hong Kong when I was there and I know that, because the vet side of racing is so tightly controlled there, it’s the superior horseman who will succeed, Romans told the South China Morning Post. "They’ve never had an American trainer but if they want me, I’d love to train there.”
Training in Hong Kong is not a right, it's a privilege. Romans would have to be accepted by the Hong Kong Jockey Club and one of the existing 'Northern Hemisphere' trainers currently training there -- Sean Woods and Andreas Schutz -- would have to fail to meet club performance criteria.
No American trainer has ever been licensed by the HKJC, but Romans feels not only would he be a great fit, he'd be a selling point.
“I think my runners would have a big following from horseplayers in the States now that there’s so much simulcasting of the Hong Kong races to America. I think I could help with that.”