Chrome works at Los Alamitos

CYPRESS, CALIF. » At 4:50 a.m. Saturday, Los Alamitos Race Course was mostly asleep, pausing in the lull between the quarter horse races that had been run the night before and the thoroughbred card that would follow in the afternoon.

A handful of track employees were at work in the enclosed part of grandstand, hosing down the sloped concrete floor, washing the wall of windows facing the track, and straightening the rows of laminated benches that provide much of the inside seating. Strewn about the counter at Rodney’s Bar was the timeless refuse of a losing night at the

races, the soiled programs, crumpled mutual tickets and partially filled cups of stale beer. The only sound was music blaring from the track’s announcing system, a weird jazz-like mix resembling a soundtrack from a 1940s B Movie.

All things considered, it was a most unlikely setting in which to find the best racehorse in the world. And yet shortly before 5:30, there he came: California Chrome himself, big as life, cantering through the stretch alone as maybe a dozen onlookers watched from the outside rail.

Even though the track lights had been turned on, it was hard to follow Chrome after exercise rider Dihigi Gladney turned him loose at the top of the backstretch. The forest of palm trees and light poles permitted only brief glimpses as the 5-year- old horse tore around the empty Los Al oval, and he was completely lost to view on the poorly lit far turn. He reemerged into the light at the top of the stretch as a sort of phantom horse, then powered through the lane with the familiar long, athletic strides that have earned him over $13 million.

Officially, California Chrome was clocked in 1:13 flat for six furlongs, galloping out in 1:26 2/5. He then continued down the backstretch a second time, disappearing again on the far turn before exiting the track at the head of the stretch and returning to the barn, his outing complete.

Art Sherman seemed pleased with the work, which he viewed from the grandstand. “With racing, you never know from one day to the next,” the trainer said at bloodhorse. com, “but I couldn’t be happier going into this race.” “This race” is the Grade 1 Awesome Again Stakes, which will be run next Saturday at Santa Anita.

If all goes according to plan, California Chrome will run back Nov. 5 in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, a race in which he finished a close-up third in 2014. A start in the inaugural $12 million Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream on Jan. 28 has been mentioned as Chrome’s likely final race. Soon afterward he’ll begin stud duty at Taylor Made Farm in Kentucky.

I was fortunate to see California Chrome race in person at the 2014 Belmont, and after Saturday will have seen him twice since at Santa Anita. And I’ve probably watched simulcasts of a dozen of his racess, including the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, Pacific Classic and two Dubai World Cups. Being on hand for what felt like a private workout on an early fall morning at Los Alamitos, however, may turn out to be the memory that endures the longest. Jeff Scott writes about horse racing Tuesday in The Saratogian. He may be reached at utahpine1@ aol.com.