Chrome Report: Slow gallop for Derby winner; Monday flight confirmed

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – It was business as usual Friday morning for Kentucky Derby winner California Chrome, who turned in another routine gallop at Churchill Downs as his prepares for the second leg of the Triple Crown, the May 17 Preakness at Pimlico in Baltimore.

As is his custom, he went slowly under exercise rider Willie Delgado in his first lap around the Churchill Downs oval before picking up his pace over a gallop of approximately 1 3/4 miles

Alan Sherman, assistant to his father, trainer Art Sherman, is overseeing the colt’s training with his father attending to his horses at Los Alamitos in Southern California this week.

Alan Sherman said arrangements had been worked out for California Chrome to fly on a Tex Sutton flight from Lexington to Maryland Monday afternoon. He will train Monday morning at Churchill before traveling, Sherman said.

The connections of California Chrome have long wanted to leave for Baltimore on Monday, rather than on Wednesday, when a flight had long been scheduled. The extra days would give him a little more time to become acclimated to Pimlico.

With a threat of rain in Louisville from Friday afternoon into Saturday morning, there is a possibility of a wet track Saturday morning. But that is unlikely to take him out of his galloping regimen.

“As long as the track is okay, I don’t mind training on a wet track,” Alan Sherman said.