Chrome taking in new surroundings

For 77-year-old trainer Art Sherman and the connections of California Chrome (USA), the dream that they still live in began on April 26, 2013, when a raw, chestnut racehorse with a big white blaze and marginal pedigree made his first career start at the now defunct Hollywood Park.

“As a two-year-old he was awful green and all over the racetrack,” Sherman recalls.

The exercise rider for 1955 Kentucky Derby winner Swaps and a winner of more than 2,000 races as both a jockey and trainer, Sherman knows a good horse when he sees one, but he admits that California Chrome’s progress and eventual stardom took him by complete surprise.

“He started growing and developing and all of a sudden he kept getting better after each race,” said Sherman.

“He won six races in a row and in San Felipe he won by eight just being eased and it gave me goose pimples.

“I was like ‘wow, I hope he runs this good in the Santa Anita Derby’.” That he did.

“He beat a field of top horses (in the Santa Anita Derby) and won easily,” Sherman said.

“Then I felt I had a real chance in the (Kentucky) Derby and he didn't prove me wrong.”

A win in the Preakness followed the Kentucky Derby triumph, but an attempt to become the first American Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978, failed. He finished fourth. Less than two lengths separated California Chrome from racing immortality.

Despite the deflating defeat, in the eyes of his adoring ‘Chromies’, California Chrome lost no lustre and the likeable great grandfather Sherman remained racing’s darling.

“I call him the California rock star,” Sherman said of his prized racehorse.

“He's got such a following all over the world. I thought nobody would know me in Dubai but from the moment I stepped off the plane, people said ‘there’s California Chrome's trainer’.”

“Everybody wants you,” Sherman continued. “Royal Ascot and Hong Kong want me there. He's kind of like a drawing magnet for racing right now.”

First things first. As the international favourite, California Chrome will enter the starting gate on Saturday attempting to become the third Kentucky Derby winner to succeed in the Dubai World Cup sponsored by Emirates, joining Silver Charm (1998) and Animal Kingdom (2013).

“He's kind of push button,” Sherman said of California Chrome. “He's not a one-dimensional horse and that's important. Just keep him in the clear and have a place to go. That's all I ask.”

Another chapter to California Chrome’s unlikely story will be written on Saturday, but win, lose or draw, Sherman is well aware of the impact his horse has already made on a variety of levels.

“By a $2,500 stud out of a maiden $8,000 claiming mare, to come by and win all these races, it gives an incentive to the little guy,” Sherman said.

“This is a game where you can buy your way into a lot of things, but we are proof that a dream can happen. You don't have to be a millionaire or a billionaire to win these kinds of races.

“In the end, I'd like to leave some sort of legacy with him that says ‘wow, I remember California Chrome, he was a great horse and we had a lot of fun watching him run’.”




Credit: Dubai Racing Club // Andrew Watkins

California Chrome, carded to run this Saturday at Santa Anita with the intent to run in the Dubai World Cup 2016.

Great stuff

The smile on Alan Sherman's face as he thrust his 19-month-old grandson Logan into the air in celebration didn't wane until after he left theSanta Anita Park winner's circle Jan. 9.

It wasn't just a relief for Sherman, assistant to his father Art Sherman, to see California Chrome   back racing again when he cruised to victory in the $200,000 San Pasqual Stakes (gr. II), his first start since a second-place finish in the Dubai World Cup (UAE-I) last March—which was followed by a globetrotting adventure to England, Chicago, and Kentucky. Watch Video

It was an opportunity to recapture the emotion surrounding their once-in-a-lifetime horse 

"It was awesome. He got a little tired in the last part, like we expected, but he ran a great race," Alan Sherman said. "He's got a lot of heart and it's kind of neat to have four generations of Shermans here... We feel privileged to have this horse and I'm so happy for my dad."

When the 5-year-old son of Lucky Pulpit  spurted out of the gate in the 1 1/16-mile San Pasqual and settled into a stalking trip behind longshot front-runner Alfa Bird—tracking 1 1/2 lengths behind fractions of :24.82 and :49.12 through a half-mile—the 78-year-old patriarch and trainer had a good idea of what kind of race his pupil was going to run.

After California Chrome breezed by on the outside to take the lead in the final turn—he was just a head behind Alfa Bird through six furlongs in 1:12.90—he opened up a 1 1/2-length advantage at the top of the stretch and largely maintained that margin to the finish. With a few healthy, right-handed reminders from jockey Victor Espinoza, he held off a determined closing drive byImperative to win by 1 1/4 lengths, hitting the wire in 1:43.39 in his new chrome-colored silks. Hoppertunity closed from seventh to finish third, a length back.

"I thought, when he went to the lead, he had a lot of horse," the elder Sherman said in the middle of a winner's circle overflowing with supporters. "He just waved the stick at him and I knew he would respond. You have to go by him to beat him and I didn't see anybody. They were closing, but he had a little left in the tank."

Espinoza said he was hesitant to ask the 2014 Horse of the Year too much, but also wanted to make sure he felt the same burst he experienced during California Chrome's 3-year-old season.

"He feels like a champ," the jockey said. "The most important thing about him today was that he accelerated in the stretch. Before, he was just steady, but this time he came back like the old Chrome... I had to just let him do his thing and let him run a little bit in the lane."

Off at 3-5, California Chrome paid $3.20, $2.40, and $2.10 across the board. Imperative brought $5.80 and $3, while Hoppertunity, the 5-2 second choice, delivered $2.20 to show. 

Grade I winner Hard Aces made mild gains to finish fourth, followed by Blingo, Point Piper, and Alfa Bird to complete the order of finish.Mystery Train was scratched earlier in the day.

The victory also pushed California Chrome to a unique honor. With the $120,000 winner's share from the San Pasqual, the dual-classic winner bred by majority owner Perry Martin and Steve Coburn—now owned in partnership by Martin and Taylor Made Farm—is the highest-earning California-bred with $6,442,650 in purse money, edging outTiznow  , with $6,427,830. It's a distinction Art Sherman, a self-described "California-boy" has been looking forward to clinching for some time.

"It means a lot to me that he's now the all-time winningest Cal-bred," the conditioner said. "It's a great honor, and being a California boy like myself, starting out here—it brings back a lot of memories. I'm elated. I really am."

Alan Sherman said after the race that they will ship California Chrome to Dubai Jan. 21. There he will have one prep race before another try in the World Cup, which is set to run March 26.

"We've got to pack our bags," Alan Sherman said. "We'll be over there for almost three months."

Following his trip to Dubai, California Chrome's connections have indicated a path to the Breeders' Cup Classic (gr. I), with a possible stop at the Pacific Classic (gr. I) in between. 

"He'll be a different horse after this race and that's why I was a little nervous (today)," Art Sherman said. "After a nine-month layoff, his first race back, we didn't really crank the screws on him."