Rominski, a good-looking bay colt out of the Domestic Dispute mare Undisputed Legend owned by Euro Stable, cost just $28,000 at last year’s Fasig-Tipton Midlantic fall yearling sale. And he had only a modest work tab.

But trainer Claudio Gonzalez thought plenty of his charge.

“All the babies came together, and this one, right away we could see had potential,” Gonzalez said. “That’s why we gave him the time.”

Rominski recorded a couple of works in March with Gonzalez’s Parx Racing string. But then Gonzalez  gave him a few months off to mature a bit physically.

“Now in the morning he does everything right,” Gonzalez said. “He looks good; you can see he’s a beautiful horse.”

The bettors certainly thought so. Despite the modest works, they made him the 3.30-1 second choice in the field of nine. Favoritism went — surprisingly, based on the 12-1 morning line — to another first-timer, the Linda Albert-trained Royal Spy, who went off at 3.20-1.

After hitting the gate, Royal Spy quickly moved up into second and gave willing pursuit before tiring late, while still holding second. Hand Gesture for Arnaud Delacour was third. Running time for 5 ½ furlongs on a fast main track was 1:04.57.

Rominski paid $8.60 to win, and the one-dollar exacta returned $24.50. First-time starters occupied the first four finish positions — Scintillio was fourth — in a race in which the runners who’d started previously hadn’t shown much.

Gonzalez said he wasn’t sure what might come next for Rominski. The next two-year-old stakes race at Laurel is Nov. 13 — too soon, the trainer said. The next one after that, according to the stakes book, is the December 26 Heft Stakes. 

Rominski was bred in Maryland by David Wade.

In the day’s featured third-level allowance/optional claimer, first-off-the-claim Bustoff, with Charlie Marquez in the irons for trainer Hugh McMahon, scored a mild upset by two lengths over favored Galerio for his second consecutive win.