Luv The Tune Gives Byrne Nine in a Row

Trainer Pat Byrne ran his winning streak to nine Wednesday when first-time starter Luv The Tune won the fifth race at Churchill Downs.

After winning with his final starter of the Keeneland meeting, the English-born Byrne has scored with the first eight horses he has sent out at the Churchill Downs season.

“I hadn’t really thought about it much until last [Friday night],” Byrne, 41, said before the streak was continued Wednesday. “We won two races that night [with Special Guy and City By Night]. I felt good about those two horses going in. Both were doing well and both were in the right kind of races.

“Everybody’s talking about it, and I guess now it’s become a little bit of an issue. Up until then, I really hadn’t given it any consideration. I felt each and every one [of the winners] had a solid chance of hitting the board. The fact that they are winning--it feels good.”

A former assistant to Howard Tesher and former exercise rider for trainers Neil Drysdale, Leroy Jolley, John Russell and the late Tommy Doyle, Byrne has won with 19 of 57 starters in 1997.

Horse Racing Notes

Third behind Wavy Run and Savinio in last Saturday’s San Francisco Mile at Golden Gate Fields, Romarin has been retired and is being sent back to his homeland, Brazil, to stand at stud. A 7-year-old owned by Rio Claro Thoroughbreds and trained by Richard Mandella, Romarin finished his career with 10 wins in 28 starts and earned $775,305. . . . There is a Pick Six carry-over of $533,411.75 for today at Hollywood Park. . . . Saddling his first horse since the spring of 1993, trainer Julio Canani had to settle for a fifth-place finish with Pic O Them All, the 9-5 favorite, in Wednesday’s sixth race at Hollywood Park. . . . Twice The Vice, who worked a mile in 1:41 at Hollywood Park on Tuesday morning, may make her first start since last July in the $100,000 Hawthorne Handicap on May 25, according to trainer Ron Ellis. Exotic Wood, another classy mare from the Ellis barn, could return a day later in the $150,000 Soviet Problem Breeders’ Cup Handicap at Golden Gate Fields. . . . John Barr, a longtime horse owner-breeder in California, has been elected to the board of directors of the Oak Tree Racing Assn. Barr, involved with racing since 1971, races under the name of Oakcrest Stable.