Eight months off? No problem, says Rominski.

The six-year-old Great Notion gelding returned from a lengthy break Sunday at Laurel Park and showed that he hadn’t lost a step.

Under jockey Sheldon Russell, Rominski jetted to the early lead and held firm late en route to a 1 1/4-length win in the afternoon’s feature, a $56,000 third-level allowance/optional claimer.

“I was a little concerned I didn’t have him tight enough,” said winning trainer Brittany Russell. “But sometimes class, and these old warhorses, that kind of prevails.”

Russell and owner The Elkstone Group LLC dipped in to claim Rominski for $55,000 last May and ran him back once. That was a sharp, five-length score in an open allowance in which Rominski registered a 101 Beyer speed figure, the highest of his career.

But then he was off, on the sidelines from June 16 until this afternoon.

“He was a horse that was pretty honestly raced,” Russell said. “He never really missed one of those races. And we just kind of decided, he’s a horse that you want in the barn and you want to keep him healthy. [Elkstone’s owner Stuart Grant] has a farm, so we just gave him a break.”

He had a steady string of works in preparation for his return to action, including a bullet five-furlong move Feb. 5 that suggested he was ready to roll.

Today’s contest also included another returnee in Shaft’s Bullet. A stakes winner of over $320,000, Shaft’s Bullet, trained by Gary Capuano for Larry Fowler, had not raced since last July and, given his history as a router, seemed likely to be using this as a preparation for longer races.  Shaft’s Bullet wasn’t far off for the opening half-mile but faded to last.

Rominski was quickest away when the gates opened and led by two lengths after an opener in 22.72 seconds. He was a length to the good after a half-mile in 46.07, with No Easy Days his nearest pursuer.

No Easy Days kept trying in the lane but couldn’t carve much off Rominski’s advantage, settling for second while a half-length ahead of On the Mark. Running time for six furlongs on a fast main track was 1:10.80.

Off at 3-5, Rominski paid $3.40 to win and topped an exacta that returned $14.70 for a one-dollar wager. The win was Rominski’s 11^th from 22 career starts and pushed him past $400,000 in earnings.

Rominski was bred in Maryland by David Wade and is out of the Domestic Dispute mare Undisputed Legend.

Russell was noncommittal about Rominski’s next move. His only prior stakes outing – in the state-restricted Not for Love last March – was a disappointing fourth-place finish, as the favorite, and may suggest he benefits from the use of Lasix, which could argue against additional stakes tries.

“Sometimes they put up these open allowances,” Russell said. “We’ll see how he goes. If we run him in a stake and he doesn’t run good, then we know where we sit. Sometimes all you gotta do is try.”