Triple threat is work of Art
IT’S HALF PAST seven in the morning on Tuesday and Art Sherman, son of Brooklyn, trainer of California Chrome, strides into The Morning Line, a small sandwich shop on the grounds beyond the backstretch and barns at Belmont Park. He wears a cream cap emblazoned with his horse’s name and “Kentucky Derby” on the face. He orders his coffee black, takes a sip and starts talking about the trip he’s taken since leaving his Williamsburg neighborhood seven decades ago and the game that brought him back east.
“I never knew anything about a racetrack then,” he says.
He walks in his brown leather boots, stepping stiffly in blue jeans. Horses have humbled Sherman, ranging in his roles from jockey to exercise rider up to his current title, but they also offered him a lifetime of pursuit. He believes California Chrome, the colt with the chestnut coloring and white blaze, can lead him to the winner’s circle one more time on Saturday. It will all be about the mile-and-ahalf trip once California Chrome leaves Barn 26 for the starting gate, chasing down the Triple Crown Trophy that has eluded all horsemen for 36 years. He was last at the Long Island racetrack to observe Lost in the Fog, a friend’s horse, at the 2005 Breeders’ Cup. He marvels at the stage then and now.
“It’s changed quite a bit,” Sherman says, surveying the layout. “After you’ve been away from it, it’s a huge racetrack.”
Sherman, now a resident of San Diego, knows there will be a number of fresh horses aiming to take down his colt, the one currently running through a six-race winning streak that stretches tracks across the nation. California Chrome will wear a target matching his saddle, and Sherman noted the importance of the jockey — in this case Victor Espinoza, a Mexican riding the most significant mount — and his ability to maneuver through the field. Sherman shrugs off any questions of concern. “They better worry about me,” he says. There are new tricks to the training job that Sherman has implemented. His son, Alan, 46, trekked to Belmont with California first, pushing the colt through his paces on site at the park, and then giving his father a wakeup call each morning at 3:30 Pacific Standard Time. Son also sent father videos of the workouts, allowing the elder to offer his thoughts on performance. No graphics or video could reveal the relationship between horse and trainer such as the first interaction between California Chrome and Art on Monday, however. California Chrome looked more muscular to the trainer, nibbling at him. Still, Art commended his son’s efforts serving as the on-site trainer every day.
“Alan was my right-hand man,” Art says. “He did it all.”
Their colt is ready, Art insists. He is, too. He dropped off his lucky gray suit, the same one he wore the last two races, to be cleaned and pressed again on Tuesday. He will also carry a dollar bill sent to him by a supporter before the Kentucky Derby. He revels in his current task all the while, calling California “a real rock star” and “the real McCoy.”
“He doesn’t need to win the Triple Crown to be a hero,” Art says. “He’s my hero.”
Their legacies would forever be intertwined should California Chrome claim the win. Still, there are steps to be taken before the starting gate swings open. He plans on stopping by his old Brooklyn haunts while here, taking relatives into Williamsburg, another old backdrop that Sherman expects to barely recognize in its gentrified state.
“They say it’s changed,” Sherman says. “I can’t afford Williamsburg now.”
Collecting the $1.5 million purse at Belmont would help.