California Chrome settles into quarantine

ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. – California Chrome was comfortably settled into the quarantine barn on the Arlington backstretch Wednesday after arriving Tuesday afternoon on a flight from Amsterdam. California Chrome left from England, where he had been based since early April after shipping from Dubai.

Anna Wells, California Chrome’s workout rider who will oversee his day-to-day care here with groom Raoul Rodriguez, conceded that California Chrome looked light upon arrival. But trainer Art Sherman and his assistant and son Alan reported during their visits to the colt in England that he was not carrying as much weight as they preferred.

“He looks a little light, but that was expected,” Wells said. “Everything was very different for him over there, and he had the long travel to get back here. He’s happy and looks healthy, and getting back under the care of his original groom could really do him some good.”

California Chrome is wearing a bar shoe to protect a hoof injury that forced his scratch from the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot, and Wells said that blacksmith Judd Fisher is flying from California this weekend to examine the hoof. California Chrome is walking sound, Wells said.

California Chrome is expected to clear quarantine and move into the Chris Block shed row Thursday morning. He will not resume training before this weekend, according to Wells.

Second last out in the Dubai World Cup, California Chrome is being pointed to the Aug. 15 Arlington Million.