Chrome’s story may never repeat

AURORA,COLO.>> A message to horse lovers and dreamers out there: This will not happen to you. Well, almost certainly not. For all the buzz California Chrome’s feel-good run at the Triple Crown is generating for horse racing, his too-good-to-be-true story has virtually no chance of repeating itself, according to the numbers.

The horse that will line up at the Belmont Stakes on Saturday is the product of an unspectacular mare and an equally unheralded stallion, bred in a state not known for producing winners and owned by a couple of racing outsiders who were labeled “dumb asses” for even pondering such a thing.

Byron Rogers, whose business is scientifically analyzing genetic makeup of racehorses, puts the odds at 50,000-to-1 against a horse with the strength and the stamina of a California Chrome ever showing up again among the 21,000 or so thoroughbred foals born each year. It’s the sort of horse that shows up maybe once every three years, but even then doesn’t always find his way into the spotlight because success requires a magic mix of the right owner, trainer and opportunity.

California Chrome was born at well-respected Harris Farms in Coalinga, California, and trained by longtime horseman Art Sherman, the 77-year-old who returned to the big-time nearly six decades after going to the Kentucky Derby as an exercise rider for Swaps, who won the 1955 Derby.

“This horse had everything go his way,” Rogers said. “He had just about perfect genetics. Art Sherman is a very good trainer. Harris Farms is a good farm. You couldn’t predict any of this at the start with this horse.”

In fact, Rogers says, if California Chrome’s parents were paired again, odds are only about one out of 10 their offspring would make it to a stakes race.

It’s a reality that horsemen on the lower end of the sport, which is where California Chrome’s owners once lived, are in touch with every day. Most aren’t in it to reach the big time, only to break even with their expenses.

“It’s all about luck and timing,” says Shannon Rushton, executive director of the Colorado horse racing association, speaking recently at Arapahoe Park outside of Denver, where the Kentucky Derby is a distant dream for almost every man and horse.

“Every year, you kind of hope that, at some point and time, you might be the one to lead a horse into the paddock onBreeder’sCupdayorKentucky Derby day.”

The odds, even when the bloodlines are much more refined than California Chrome’s, are very much against it.

Rogers says between only about 3.5 percent of thoroughbreds born each year are good enough to run in a stakes race. Only 20 can make it to the starting line at theKentuckyDerby.Andyet, those odds have actually improved over the last decade, sincetheeconomicturndown also brought a slowdown in breeding. In 2005, the registered foal crop in the United States totaled more than 35,000. Last year, it was estimated at 21,275, continuing a steady decline that began in 2006.

Still, when owners Steve Coburn and Perry Martin decided to buy an undistinguished filly, Love the Chase, for $8,000 a few years ago and breed her to an equally ordinary stallion named Lucky Pulpit, they knew they were buying into a fairy tale, the likes of which almost never end like this.

“There’s always the dream. I think dreams are great,” said Scott Powell, who owns and trains horses.