Derby winner tries Pimlico, looks ‘happy’
Assistant trainer: California Chrome seems to like track.
BALTIMORE— No matter what scenario he’s thrust into, California Chrome usually finds a way to make the adjustment.
Sloppy track? No problem. Slow pace? Got it covered. Fast pace? Piece of cake.
The Kentucky Derby winner tested the track at Pimlico Race Course for the first time Tuesday and seemed to like it.
“He seemed to handle the track just great,” assistant trainer Alan Sherman said. “He just jogged but he was happy. He’s really happy right now.”
The Triple Crown hopeful brings a fiverace winning streak into Saturday’s Preakness. Because there is a smaller field than the Derby, a shorter distance and several new shooters, this race has the potential to be different.
Regardless of how it shapes up, California Chrome should be ready to deal with it.
“He’s so tactical,” Sherman said. “If they go slow in front, he’ll take it right to them and push the horses in front of him. If they’re going fast in front, he can just sit off the pace. That’s the good thing about him. He doesn’t have one style of running. … If you ask him, he’ll do it.”
It’s supposed to rain Friday, but the forecast for Saturday is 70 degrees and partly cloudy. Sherman is not concerned. “We’re not scared,” he said. “He trained really good at Churchill on a sloppy track. He actually looked like he liked it a lot.”
No two tracks are alike, except perhaps to the undiscerning California Chrome.
“He had no issues on the track surface at all,” Sherman said after Tuesday’s practice run. “This horse hasn’t had to take his track with him. He’s won on four different tracks now.”
Owners Perry Martin and Steve Coburn bred an $8,000 mare to a $2,500 stallion to produce California Chrome, whose racing career did not generate much fanfare until he won the final stakes race at Hollywood Park, the King Glorious, by 6¼ lengths. That launched the five-win streak that propelled him into position to become the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978.
Along the way, the father-son duo of Art and Alan Sherman realized they had a horse most trainers dream about.
“The King Glorious race, that opened my eyes up,” Alan said. “Then he just kept getting better. Then he won the California Breeders Derby. That was another impressive race. But the San Felipe was probably when I went, ‘Wow.’”