California Chrome unlikely to make Royal Ascot start

California Chrome’s scheduled start in Wednesday’s Group 1 Prince of Wales’s Stakes at Royal Ascot in England was considered doubtful on Monday after trainer Art Sherman said an abscess was detected in the colt’s right front foot.

A dejected Sherman said in a telephone interview that California Chrome did not train on Monday and that subsequent tests revealed the developing abscess. Sherman said he believes that California Chrome bruised a foot while training at Newmarket, England, in recent days.

“He’s pretty sore on it,” Sherman said. “He didn’t [train] today. He must have bruised it when he was galloping up one of those hills.

“It doesn’t look like he’ll be able to run.”

Sherman said the abscess became apparent after California Chrome’s foot was treated on Monday.

“You could see that something was kind of coming out,” he said. “This is tough.”

The injury ruins an ambitious plan set by majority owner Perry Martin to start California Chrome in one of England’s most prestigious races. The Prince of Wales’s Stakes is the top race at 1 1/4 miles on turf at the Royal Ascot meeting, the highlight of the English flat season.

The 2014 Horse of the Year, California Chrome was sent to England in early April, a week after finishing second in the $10 million Dubai World Cup at Meydan Racecourse in the United Arab Emirates on March 28, his first international start.

The colt has been based with trainer Rae Guest in recent months. Sherman has been in frequent contact with Guest over California Chrome’s training and traveled to England last week to watch final preparations and attend the Prince of Wales’s Stakes.

Sherman said on Monday that plans for California Chrome are unclear, although he was hopeful that Martin and owner Steve Coburn would allow him to take the colt back to his base at Los Alamitos in Southern California.

Early Monday, California Chrome was a 10-1 chance with British bookmakers in a field of 10 in the Prince of Wales’s Stakes. The 11-4 favorite on Monday was Free Eagle, who was third in the Group 1 Champion Stakes at Ascot last October.

The field for the Prince of Wales’s Stakes at 1 1/4 miles on turf also includes The Grey Gatsby, who won the 2014 French Derby; Criterion, the winner of the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Randwick Racecourse in Australia in April; and Spielberg, who won the Grade 1 Tenno Sho in Japan last November.

Ward is well represented

The Prince of Wales’s Stakes is the fourth of six races on Wednesday’s Royal Ascot program. Two other races have American-based runners.

Luck of the Kitten, runner-up in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf at Santa Anita last November, is a 14-1 outsider in the Group 3 Jersey Stakes at a straightaway seven furlongs in the day’s first race. Joel Rosario has traveled to England for the mount.

Trained by Wesley Ward, Luck of the Kitten was fourth in the Grade 2 American Turf Stakes at Churchill Downs on May 2.

The Jersey Stakes field is led by the two-time group stakes winner Ivawood, who was third in the English 2000 Guineas and Irish 2000 Guineas in May.

Ward has two runners in the Group 2 Queen Mary Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at five furlongs – Bruised Orange, a maiden race winner at Keeneland on April 8, and Acapulco, third in a maiden race at Churchill Downs on May 8. Ward won the 2009 Queen Mary with Jealous Again.

The Queen Mary drew a field of 23, led by Besharah and Easton Angel, who both are unbeaten in two starts.

 Integral, a two-time Group 1 winner in 2014 trained by Michael Stoute, is a standout in the day’s other group stakes, the Group 2 Duke of Cambridge Stakes for fillies and mares at a straightaway mile.