California Chrome looks ready in workout for Pacific Classic
CYPRESS, Calif. - California Chrome worked a half-mile in 47.80 seconds at Los Alamitos on Sunday, two weeks after his win in the Grade 2 San Diego Handicap at Del Mar and two weeks before his next start in the $1 million Pacific Classic there Aug. 20.
The exercise was the first of two scheduled workouts for California Chrome before the popular 5-year-old is shipped to Del Mar on Aug. 15. California Chrome is set to work again at Los Alamitos on Aug. 14.
Sunday’s workout was accomplished with minimal effort under exercise rider Dihigi Gladney. California Chrome worked under the lights before dawn and was given a brief, private training session before the track was opened to other horses.
Working alone, Gladney jogged California Chrome down the stretch and into the turn before accelerating into a gallop. Gladney had to restrain California Chrome in the furlong before the workout to keep the horse from starting too soon. Once underway, California Chrome ran the first furlong in 12.80 seconds, a quarter-mile in 24.80, and three furlongs in 36.80, according to Los Alamitos clockers.
California Chrome was not urged through the stretch. Trainer Art Sherman timed California Chrome in a slightly faster 47.6 seconds for a half-mile.
“He looked like he was galloping to me,” Sherman said. “I think he looked super.”
California Chrome galloped out five furlongs in 1:01.80. The enthusiasm displayed in the workout was reflective of his training since the San Diego Handicap, according to Sherman’s son and assistant, Alan.
“He came out of the race on fire,” Alan Sherman said. “He’s training better than he was going into the San Diego.
“He’s more on the muscle. Yesterday, he was bucking. He never does that.”
Art Sherman’s stable is based at Los Alamitos throughout the year. Sherman said he prefers to train California Chrome at Los Alamitos between starts instead of the more hectic scene at Del Mar, where more horses are based.
“This is so much calmer,” Sherman said. “He seems to relax more here.”
California Chrome was the 2014 Horse of the Year. He has won 13 of 22 starts and has earned $12,652,650, a record for a North American-based Thoroughbred.
Owned by Perry Martin and Taylor Made Farms, California Chrome is unbeaten in four starts this year, including the $10 million Dubai World Cup in the United Arab Emirates on March 26. In the San Diego Handicap at 1 1/16 miles, California Chrome fought off a sustained challenge from Dortmund to win by a half-length.
“It was like a match race from the head of the stretch home,” Sherman said.
Dortmund will be California Chrome’s main rival in the Pacific Classic, which is run at 1 1/4 miles. Other probable starters are Dalmore, Hard Aces, Hoppertunity, War Story, Win the Space and possibly Beholder, the winner of the 2015 Pacific Classic.
Beholder, a 6-year-old mare, was second to Stellar Wind in the Grade 1 Clement Hirsch Stakes at Del Mar on July 30. Trainer Richard Mandella said on Saturday that he has yet to decide whether Beholder will start in the Pacific Classic.