For California Chrome, 2016 begins with high hopes

ARCADIA, Calif. – When California Chrome starts in Saturday’s $200,000 San Pasqual Stakes at Santa Anita, his first race in more than nine months, he will be 11 weeks from his first major goal of the year, the $10 million Dubai World Cup in the United Arab Emirates on March 26.

The second principal goal is 10 months away – the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita on Nov. 5. If all goes as planned, California Chrome, the 2014 Horse of the Year after wins in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, will win both and retire to stud in Kentucky as Horse of the Year. At least, that’s what majority owner Perry Martin hopes to see. “We set two priority targets, which are the Dubai World Cup and the Breeders’ Cup Classic,” Martin said last weekend. “We’ve already started Phase 1 when we started him in training. After Dubai, we’ll probably bring him back and give him a rest. We’ll pick a series of races to have him at a peak and be ready for the Breeders’ Cup.”

Expectations are high for those world-class races, more so than for the Grade 2 San Pasqual at 1 1/16 miles. “It’s our first stepping-stone,” Martin said. “I won’t get too excited either way.” Martin may have his emotions in check, but “the Chromies,” the horse’s loyal fans, are eagerly anticipating his comeback. When California Chrome worked at Santa Anita before the first race last Saturday, he was given a warm round of applause as he ran through the stretch under jockey Victor Espinoza. California Chrome returns to action at a time when the California handicap division is not a deep group. American Pharoah, the star of the 2015 Triple Crown and Breeders’ Cup Classic, was retired to stud in November, never given a chance to race as an older horse. Sadly, Shared Belief, the champion 2-year-old male of 2013 who beat California Chrome in a highly anticipated running of the $590,000 San Antonio Stakes at Santa Anita last February, died of a severe bout with colic in December.

The field for the San Pasqual is expected to include Hoppertunity, who finished second in the Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs in November. The San Pasqual will be California Chrome’s only start in the United States until the summer. He is scheduled to be sent to Dubai in late January for a potential prep race in late February or early March. Last year, California Chrome was sent to Dubai weeks before he was beaten 2 3/4 lengths by Prince Bishop in the Dubai World Cup. Martin contends that an early departure this year will provide a better chance to win the Dubai World Cup. “I think he performed great” last year, Martin said. “In my opinion all along, we should have been there a month or two early, and that’s what we’ll do this time. Nobody can say I don’t learn from my mistakes. We’ll see how he performs in this race.”

After the Dubai World Cup, California Chrome is expected to resume racing in California at the end of the Santa Anita spring-summer meeting or at Del Mar’s summer meeting. That is the game plan that Martin, Taylor Made Farm, and trainer Art Sherman reached in recent months. Last summer, Taylor Made, of Nicholasville, Ky., bought the minority share held by Steve Coburn, a co-owner and co-breeder of California Chrome with Martin. For Martin and Coburn, California Chrome won 9 of 18 starts and earned $6,322,650. He earned $2.1 million from the second-place finishes in the San Antonio and Dubai World Cup in 2015.

The long break from the Dubai World Cup to the San Pasqual Stakes was caused by minor injuries that kept California Chrome from running in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot in England last June and the Arlington Million at Arlington Park in August. By the time the Arlington Million was run, California Chrome was in the midst of a 90-day rest at Taylor Made Farm. He rejoined Sherman’s stable at Los Alamitos in mid-October. Through his accomplishments, it’s easy to forget that California Chrome’s modest breeding – he’s by the California sire Lucky Pulpit and out of a Golden Gate Fields maiden claimer, Love the Chase – was a dominant subject early in his career.

Martin and Coburn still own Love the Chase, who will be bred to Tapit this year, Martin said. They are partners on Hope’s Love, a 3-year-old full sister to California Chrome, and California Chromet, a 2-year-old full sister going through her initial training. Hope’s Love might run at Golden Gate Fields on Saturday, Martin said. He has big hopes for all three this year. “I’ve got high expectations,” Martin said with a wry chuckle. “I’ll be disappointed if I don’t have three horses in the Breeders’ Cup. You’ve got to aim high.”