California Chrome will have one prep in Dubai before World Cup

ARCADIA, Calif. – California Chrome will have a busy second half of January after Saturday’s $200,000 San Pasqual Stakes at Santa Anita.

Trainer Art Sherman said this week that California Chrome is scheduled to leave for Dubai on Jan. 21 to begin preparations for the $10 million Dubai World Cup on March 26.

California Chrome, 5, will have a different calendar in the next few months than he did last year.

In 2015, California Chrome made his first start of the year in the $590,000 San Antonio Stakes at Santa Anita in early February, finishing second to Shared Belief. California Chrome was sent to Dubai in mid-March and was second in the Dubai World Cup at Meydan Racecourse later that month.

This year, California Chrome will have a prep race in Dubai in late February or early March. Details have not been finalized, Sherman said. Options include the $400,000 Round 3 of the Maktoum Challenge at 1 1/4 miles on dirt at Meydan on March 5 or even a $150,000 handicap at 1 1/4 miles at Meydan on Feb. 25.

“I’m not 100 percent,” Sherman said of race plans. “We’ll play it by ear. I’ll see how the races will shape up and what kind of fields are going.”

In 2008, Curlin won a handicap at 1 1/4 miles on dirt at Nad Al Sheba Racecourse in Dubai in late February before winning the Dubai World Cup on the same track a month later. Meydan replaced Nad Al Sheba as Dubai’s racetrack in 2010.

A return trip to Dubai has been an early-season goal for California Chrome since he returned to training in mid-October.

“Who knows how many times you’ll get to run for $10 million?” Sherman said. “Horses rarely do that. You gotta go for it.”