California Chrome - 1-19-15
Eclipse Award for TOP THREE YEAR OLD MALE, HORSE OF THE YEAR, 2014 KY DERBY MOMENT OF THE YEAR, and SECRETARIAT VOX POPULI WINNER!
CONGRATULATIONS TO
CALIFORNIA CHROME!
Eclipse Award for TOP THREE YEAR OLD MALE, HORSE OF THE YEAR, 2014 KY DERBY MOMENT OF THE YEAR, and SECRETARIAT VOX POPULI WINNER!
CELEBRATINGCALIFORNIA CHROME
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Editor Joe Clancy's 2014 Eclipse Award-winning coverage of the Preakness
California Chrome gallops May 27
May 24 - Chrome gallops at Belmont Park - video
May 25 - Chrome trains like a monster - video
ARRIVAL AT BELMONT 5-20-14 video
Jog at Belmont, May 21 - Video
GAME ON!!! APPROVAL TO WEAR NASAL STRIP! - click here
AND THE PREAKNESS WINNER IS.............................
California Chrome: Debut to Derby champ - Links to all DRF articles including race replays
Google search - news items about California Chrome leading to Belmont Stakes
Steve Haskin: Chrome Sweet Chrome
Video - KY Derby: CA Chrome takes 76 year old to the Kentucky Derby Ep 3
Beyer: Espinoza masters Preakness chess game
Where did California Chrome come from
California Chrome tired but healthy after Preakness - Video
Carolyn Coburn helped develop her husband's interes in horse racing
Tim Layden SI: California Chrome one win away from history...just maybe
SI Tim Layden: California Chrome: Accidental favorite
California Chrome's groom, Raul Rodriguez (video)
HRTV video: Sherman: California Chrome rocks my world
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CHROMED!
Such a classy horse. The only knock anyone who is looking to put a negative spin on him is they will say his competition in the sophomore class is weak. At this point, though, that is an unfair accusation since it will take the rest of the season to see how this class comes out later in the year, and even into next. While it's true he doesn't have an Easy Goer or an Alydar or a Sham to flatter him, that really isn't his fault. He just goes out and professionally does his job. All good trips? Give him and Victor the credit they deserve, because they virtually made their own trips. He has come from near the rail to being on the outside, and it doesn't seem to matter....they run their race without having to rely on "racing luck". What makes CC so dangerous is he gives complete control to Victor and doesn't make his move until Victor says "go". That is so key in this type of pressure-filled environment with each race becoming more and more critical. Victor will work out the best way for CC to rate off the pace in the Belmont, saving the best for last. There will be challenges, one by one, but I'm predicting, they will be to no avail. This horse is going all the way and is carrying the hopes of the racing world with him. The naysayers will just have to wait in the background, because no one will want to listen to much they have to say. It's just too darn much fun being on the Chrome bandwagon....we have all been "Chromed"!!
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Art Sherman, his trainer, calls him his "rockstar", and he does cause heads to turn everywhere he shows up. California Chrome convinces doubters that he is a special horse
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This is a happy horse!
On to Maryland
HRTV Santa Anita Derby race replay - Video
HRTV Post Santa Anita Derby interview - Video
Steve Haskin profiles CC in his latest Derby Dozen - 4-7
"There is absolutely nothing more to say about this horse that I haven’t already said over the past two months. He is simply one of the most special young horses I’ve seen in years, and if the Triple Crown drought is ever to end, this is the kind of horse who will end it. Yes, I’m getting way ahead of myself, but I cannot remember the last time I’ve seen a horse as close to perfection as this guy. For a horse to keep piling up these freakish performances for so long is a rarity in racing today and he actually keeps getting better."
Mike Watchmaker, senior handicapper for the DRF, on CA Chrome
"We ask for clarity, so when it comes, we should acknowledge it. California Chrome is THE horse going into this Kentucky Derby. It’s as clear as day."
Watchmaker: Derby Day thoughts
"California Chrome was the best horse going into the Kentucky Derby, and he was the best horse coming out of it. In a move that has become his signature, California Chrome put his field to sleep, and this Kentucky Derby to rest, with a turn of foot in upper stretch that carried him to an insurmountable lead. It’s the same kind of move California Chrome showed when he won the San Felipe and Santa Anita Derby. No one else in this Derby field has a move like that, particularly at that point in the race. And no one else in the field had the answer for it."
Kentucky Derby 140 Press Conference
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Post race commentary:
Haskin: A Horse to soothe the soul
Haskin: Chrome's journey on the Derby Dozen
Post race press conference - video
Watchmaker: California Chrome and his Derby Beyer
Marcus Hersh: Slow Derby time means little going forward
Steve Haskin: Derby Recap - California Dreamin'
Steve Haskin: A Horse to Soothe the Soul
USA Today
Boston Herald: California Chrome could prove a long-running hit
Sports Illustrated
Google search in depth articles
Feel good horse, feel good story in Derby 140
Derby victory is therapy to jockey's brother
Watchmaker: Derby / Oaks day thoughts
For Espinoza, fear has turned to Kentucky Derby success
Brisnet: California Chrome dazzles in Kentucky Derby
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Equibase record
Pedigree
Mary Cage discusses career and pedigree of California Chrome - HRN
Pre-Derby articles
California Chrome boasts a strong foundation
Jay Hovdey: The Butterfly Effect on California Chrome
UPI Weekend racing roundup
Work report Mar 27, 2014 - Interview Art Sherman
Link to California Chrome horse videos
Growing Up California Chrome - Video
California Chrome - TVG Report Mar 17, 2014 - Video
Horse Racing Nation - Zipse BlogHRTV Video - Team Chrome is Derby bound
SA Derby post race interview
California Chrome record/PPs:
Equibase record
Pedigree
BloodHorse record
HRN Profile, races including some race videos
After the Belmont - Steve Haskin
"But when I think back to this year’s Belmont Stakes, the one image that will last forever will be of an exhausted colt walking back through the tunnel with a bloodstained foot, his head down and breathing hard, and every vein protruding from his sweat-soaked body. He had given every ounce of himself, and with it all, still was beaten only 1 3/4 lengths."
Links to each race contain replay
Dlmr, 11/29/14, Race 8, Hollywood Derby G1 Turf, 1st, H'wood Derby Chart Write Up
SA, 11/1/14, Race 12, BC Classic G1, 3rd/neck BC Classic Chart Write Up
Parx, 9/20/2014, Pennsylvania Derby G2, Race 12, 6th, PA Derby Chart Write Up
BEL, 6/7/2014 Belmont Stakes G1, Race 11, 4th, Belmont Stakes Chart Write Up Haskin
Pim, 5/17/14, Race 12, Preakness S G1, 1st Preakness 2014 Chart Brisnet write up of Preakness
CD, 5/3/14, Race 11, KY Derby G1, 1st Kentucky Derby 2014 Chart Brisnet write up of KY DerbyPedigree
BloodHorse record
HRN Profile, races including some race videos
After the Belmont - Steve Haskin
"But when I think back to this year’s Belmont Stakes, the one image that will last forever will be of an exhausted colt walking back through the tunnel with a bloodstained foot, his head down and breathing hard, and every vein protruding from his sweat-soaked body. He had given every ounce of himself, and with it all, still was beaten only 1 3/4 lengths."
Links to each race contain replay
Dlmr, 11/29/14, Race 8, Hollywood Derby G1 Turf, 1st, H'wood Derby Chart Write Up
SA, 11/1/14, Race 12, BC Classic G1, 3rd/neck BC Classic Chart Write Up
Parx, 9/20/2014, Pennsylvania Derby G2, Race 12, 6th, PA Derby Chart Write Up
BEL, 6/7/2014 Belmont Stakes G1, Race 11, 4th, Belmont Stakes Chart Write Up Haskin
Pim, 5/17/14, Race 12, Preakness S G1, 1st Preakness 2014 Chart Brisnet write up of Preakness
SA, 4/5/14, Race 10, SA Derby G1, 1st, Santa Anita Derby Chart Brisnet write-up of Santa Anita Derby
SA, 3/8/14, Race 5, San Felipe Stakes G2, 1st San Felipe Stakes Chart
SA, 1/25/14, Race 10, Cal Cup Derby, 1st Cal Cup Derby Chart
HP, 12/22/13, Race 10, King Glorious Stakes, 1st King Glorious Chart
SA, 11/1/13, Race 3, Golden State Juv S. 6th Golden State Juv S Chart
Dlmr, 9/4/13, Race 8, Del Mar Futurity G1, 6th Del Mar Futurity Chart
Dlmr, 7/31/13, Race 7, Graduation Stakes, 1st Graduation Stakes Chart
HP, 6/15/13, Race 8, Willard Proctor S, 5th Willard Proctor Mem'l S Chart
HP, 5/17/13, Race 8, MSW, 1st MSW Chart
HP, 4/26/13, Race 2, MSW, 2nd MSW Chart
MORE CHROME NEWS
California Chrome ready to crunch Ky Derby
Loads of down-home charm in the story of California Chrome and his connections. Working class types, the owners aren't Kentucky blue bloods with deep roots to the sport. And first time out of the box, they breed a winner, who incidentally has two full blood siblings out of the same sire and mare! Then there's Art Sherman, who was the exercise rider for another California bred, Swaps, who at 77 could become the oldest trainer to win the Derby.
Espinoza enjoying the ride on California Chrome - HRTV interview
From donkeys to the Derby - Espinoza wears emblem of his humble start
From donkeys to the Derby - Espinoza wears emblem of his humble start
Triple Crown prospects for California Chrome - Art Sherman - Video
LA Times - Bill Dwyre - SA Derby
California Chrome dazzles in Santa Anita DerbyCalifornia Chrome shines again in SA Derby
California Chrome big draw at Los Alamitos track
SA Derby recap
California Chrome and KY Derby
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| In the winner's circle |
Is California Chrome our Triple Crown horse? On paper, at least, he's unbeatable. If he can do it as easily as he did in the KY Derby in a field of 19 horses, I don't see anything standing in his way at Pimlico or Belmont. What encourages my confidence in him is his apparent toughness and soundness. Most other attempts at a Triple Crown have been thwarted by injury or illness. As some long-time observers have been pointing out. this horse is apparently a throwback to horses of days past...he hasn't had a pimple, hasn't missed a meal, hasn't had any interruption in his training due to injury or illness. That is amazing considering that he has been in training since April of last year. What I think his detractors will try to point out is this year's crop of three-year-olds aren't that good. Every 3 yr old that was at the top of the Derby Trail list in December is no longer a factor, either from injury or illness. So, the detractors will try to poke holes In his competition. What else do they have?
As for selling the horse, I think these folks mean it when they say he's "family", and I don't think any amount of money would cause them to turn this horse over to someone else. They may sell an interest as long as it doesn't mean relinquishing control, and this would help fund their fledgling breeding program. These connections have signaled their desire to be in the business for the long haul, and they may take a page from Ken Ramsey and support this horse with some top mares and build his stud career that way. His light pedigree and the fact that he's being called a "freak" (a la Sunday Silence), his stud career could be stalled on the open market, but with support from his connections, he has a chance to remain in the U.S. and have an influence on the breed that way. He has overcome a couple of the "fragile" lines in his pedigree (a double of Mr. Prospector and of Northern Dancer) and seems to have inherited the durability from other sources to strengthen those lines rather than weakening them. It has been said of Princequillo that he had the unique ability to correct almost any leg or soundness problem in the mares he bred. Perhaps the "stew" that produced California Chrome has imbued him with some qualities that if he can pass them on would certainly be a welcome addition to the gene pool. This kind of legacy takes many, many years to build and will remain in question and be a huge topic of conversation for many, many years. I just hope we get to have the conversation!!! I hope he makes it all the way, and we can speculate to kingdom come what his legacy might be.
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Chrome's journey on the the Haskin Derby Dozen
As for selling the horse, I think these folks mean it when they say he's "family", and I don't think any amount of money would cause them to turn this horse over to someone else. They may sell an interest as long as it doesn't mean relinquishing control, and this would help fund their fledgling breeding program. These connections have signaled their desire to be in the business for the long haul, and they may take a page from Ken Ramsey and support this horse with some top mares and build his stud career that way. His light pedigree and the fact that he's being called a "freak" (a la Sunday Silence), his stud career could be stalled on the open market, but with support from his connections, he has a chance to remain in the U.S. and have an influence on the breed that way. He has overcome a couple of the "fragile" lines in his pedigree (a double of Mr. Prospector and of Northern Dancer) and seems to have inherited the durability from other sources to strengthen those lines rather than weakening them. It has been said of Princequillo that he had the unique ability to correct almost any leg or soundness problem in the mares he bred. Perhaps the "stew" that produced California Chrome has imbued him with some qualities that if he can pass them on would certainly be a welcome addition to the gene pool. This kind of legacy takes many, many years to build and will remain in question and be a huge topic of conversation for many, many years. I just hope we get to have the conversation!!! I hope he makes it all the way, and we can speculate to kingdom come what his legacy might be.
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Chrome's journey on the the Haskin Derby Dozen
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