Art Sherman wins Big Sport of Turfdom Award

Art Sherman, the trainer of 2016 Horse of the Year candidate California Chrome, has been named the winner of the 2016 Big Sport of Turfdom, which is awarded by the Turf Publicists of America annually to honor a “person or group of people who enhance coverage of Thoroughbred racing through cooperation with media and racing publicists.”

Sherman, 79, guided California Chrome to three wins in Group 1 or Grade 1 races this year, including the $10 million Dubai World Cup. California Chrome, who has earned $14.4 million in purse earnings, was most recently second in the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic and is expected to be retired after a start in next year’s inaugural Pegasus World Cup Stakes, a $12 million race at Gulfstream Park.

“I am so delighted to be among the people who have won this award, a who’s who of racing,” Sherman said, in a release distributed by the TPA, which has approximately 150 members. “I’ve always tried to be accommodating to the press and even anyone that asks me for an autograph. It’s for the betterment of the game. Anything for racing.”

Prior winners of the award have included the team behind 2015 Horse of the Year American Pharoah; jockeys Mike Smith, Pat Day, and Laffit Pincay Jr.; and trainers Bob Baffert, D. Wayne Lukas, and Jack Van Berg.

“Art Sherman is a publicist’s dream,” said Jim Mulvihill, the president of the TPA and the National Thoroughbred Racing Association’s director of media and industry relations. “For three years he has trained one of the top horses in the world and during that span has made himself available for thousands of interviews. His genuine nature and likeability have been major factors in California Chrome becoming one of the most popular horses of our time.”

Sherman will be presented with the award at the annual TPA luncheon on Dec. 6, held during the University of Arizona Race Track Industry Program Symposium on Racing and Gaming.