Chrome report: Sherman says horse has gained weight

ELMONT, N.Y. – Art Sherman, the trainer of California Chrome, hadn’t seen the horse in person in two weeks, since the Preakness win at Pimlico, but he certainly liked what he saw after flying to New York on Monday to begin final preparations for the Belmont Stakes on Saturday.

“He looks like he has more weight than the last time I saw him,” Sherman said Tuesday at Belmont Park. “He looks bigger.”

In the fortnight since the Preakness, through California Chrome’s relocation from Pimlico to Belmont Park and his subsequent training here, Sherman’s son and assistant, Alan, had overseen California Chrome’s on-site training while Sherman tended to their stable of horses at Los Alamitos in Southern California, where they are based.

On Tuesday, California Chrome visited the paddock for a schooling session before heading to the track for his daily gallop. With exercise rider Willie Delgado aboard, California Chrome stood stoically in a saddling stall, walked around the paddock, then went back into another stall, never getting stirred at all.

“He’s just so cool, so laid-back,” Sherman said. “He seems to thrive on being with people for some reason. With the crowds for these races, that’s a big plus. Some of them wash out, run their race before they get there.”

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After being in the paddock, California Chrome slowly made his way to the track, stopping often along the way, once before getting to the tunnel that leads from the paddock to the main track, once immediately after emerging from the tunnel, and one final time at the end of the pathway where it meets the main track.

Once on the track, California Chrome backtracked the wrong way for a half-mile, then turned around and galloped more than two miles, at first slowly, then with more energy, very much resembling how he goes at home at Los Alamitos every day.

Sherman walked up a flight of stairs to the box seats to watch California Chrome gallop. A former jockey, Sherman rode here “years ago.”

“It looks bigger than what I remember,” Sherman said. “It’s a long way around.”

The Belmont, the longest of the Triple Crown races, is one lap around the 1 1/2-mile main track.

“Yes, one big lap,” Sherman said.

The track was quite dry and was kicking up a lot of dust. For race day, “I hope they pour water on that sucker, tighten it down,” Sherman said.