California Chrome sharp in workout for Belmont Stakes

ELMONT, N.Y. – After watching California Chrome gallop over Belmont Park’s main track for 10 straight mornings, the connections of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner said their horse was ready for a workout.

On Saturday, on a gorgeous spring morning in front a few hundred early-rising fans here for “Breakfast at Belmont,” California Chrome showed just how ready he was with an eye-catching half-mile move in 47.47 seconds over Belmont’s main track, according to Daily Racing Form’s Mike Welsch.

California Chrome, with the wind at his back in the stretch, went his last quarter-mile in 23.33 seconds over a fast track that yielded very quick times all morning. It was his one and only work leading up to Saturday’s $1.5 million Belmont Stakes, where California Chrome will attempt to become Thoroughbred racing’s 12th Triple Crown winner.

With his regular jockey, Victor Espinoza, up, California Chrome continued to impress past the wire, galloping out five furlongs in 59.59 seconds, six furlongs in 1:12.61, seven furlongs in 1:26.34, and a mile in 1:40.92.

“I couldn’t ask for anything more. It was the perfect work,” said Alan Sherman, the assistant and son of trainer Art Sherman.

Said Espinoza: “I started not too fast, and I picked it up a little at the end. As soon as I crossed the wire, I dropped the reins a little bit, and he does what he always does – his job.”

Espinoza hadn’t been on California Chrome since he won the Preakness with him two weeks ago. Espinoza believes the horse has gotten “stronger, and he’s [carrying] a little bit more weight since the last time I saw him.”

California Chrome, who worked at 6:30 a.m., was one of six potential Belmont Stakes starters to work Saturday at four different locations. The Belmont Stakes picked up another starter – bringing the field size to a possible 13 – when the connections of General a Rod opted to go in the race.

General a Rod, 11th in the Kentucky Derby and fourth in the Preakness, worked five furlongs in 1:00.20 at Trackside, a training center near Churchill Downs. Rosie Napravnik will ride in the Belmont.

Also working Saturday were Tonalist and Social Inclusion at Belmont, Samraat at Aqueduct, and Medal Count at Churchill Downs.

To affirm how fast the Belmont main track was Saturday, Social Inclusion, who worked just before 7 a.m., blitzed three furlongs in 33.44 seconds under jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. He galloped out four furlongs in 45.13 and five furlongs in 57.57.

As of noon Saturday, Social Inclusion’s connections had yet to commit to a next race. It appears that trainer Manny Azpurua wants to run in the seven-furlong Woody Stephens on the Belmont Stakes undercard, while owner Ron Sanchez wants to examine the field for that race and the Belmont Stakes before deciding.

“We’ll make a decision later on. We’ll let you know,” Sanchez said. “There are a couple of races we want to run in after the Belmont – we want to run in the Haskell – and we have to try to win a race.”

Social Inclusion, after winning his first two starts, finished third in the Wood Memorial and third in the Preakness.

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Ortiz will ride Social Inclusion regardless of which race he runs in. Ortiz sat on the colt’s back for the first time Saturday and was shocked when he heard how fast the work went.

“He did it easy; it just felt like he was galloping at the same pace,” Ortiz said.

The first horse to work at Belmont on Saturday was Tonalist, the Peter Pan Stakes winner, who came onto the track at 6 a.m. He worked five furlongs in 59.91 seconds in company with Life in Shambles, who is being pointed to Saturday’s $150,000 Easy Goer Stakes.

Tonalist, under exercise rider Lee Vickers, started out about 1 1/2 lengths in front of Life in Shambles, went his first quarter in 24.64 seconds, and came home in 23.06. Tonalist galloped out six furlongs in 1:12.78 and seven furlongs in 1:28.31.

“It was a very good work,” trainer Christophe Clement said. “They finished very well. The further, the better.”

Clement believes Tonalist is doing as well as he was leading up to the Peter Pan.

“I think he’s doing as well physically, as well mentally, as well soundness-wise,” Clement said. “He’s just a fitter horse today than what he was.”

At Aqueduct, Gotham Stakes winner and Kentucky Derby fifth-place finisher Samraat worked a mile in 1:47.43, with a final quarter in 24.49 seconds.

At Churchill Downs, Medal Count, the runner-up in the Blue Grass Stakes and the eighth-place finisher in the Kentucky Derby, worked six furlongs in 1:10, according to Churchill Downs clockers.

Though the New York State Gaming Commission announced May 21 that all Belmont Stakes contenders must be on the grounds at Belmont Park by noon Wednesday, it is at the stewards’ discretion to allow horses to arrive later. Medal Count and General a Rod are on a Thursday flight from Kentucky and have been given permission to be here then. They still will undergo out-of-competition testing, as are all the horses scheduled to compete in the day’s six Grade 1 races.

Belmont Stakes starters expected to work Sunday include Commanding Curve, Wicked Strong, Ride On Curlin, Commissioner, and Matterhorn. Matuszak is scheduled to work Monday, while Kid Cruz, who remains only a possible starter, had his last work Friday.

– additional reporting by Mike Welsch, Jay Privman, and Marty McGee