California Chrome bet to 1-2 after Friday in-state wagering
California Chrome was the early 1-2 favorite for the 139th Preakness at Pimlico on Saturday after in-state advance-wagering handle was reported Friday.
Marty McGeeMay 16, 2014
California Chrome was the early 1-2 favorite for the 139th Preakness at Pimlico on Saturday after in-state advance-wagering handle was reported Friday.
Tom Chuckas, the president of Pimlico, said Friday he will initiate discussions with Churchill Downs and Belmont Park about changing the schedule of the Triple Crown races to allow for more time between races, but not until this year’s Triple Crown has concluded.
Though rain was falling hard Friday morning at Pimlico, Victor Espinoza, jockey of Kentucky Derby winner California Chrome, said he believes the main track will be fast for Saturday’s $1.5 million Preakness Stakes.
California Chrome, the Kentucky Derby winner, had a routine gallop of two miles on Friday morning at Pimlico during conditions that were anything but routine, a heavy downpour that left the track sloppy and forced the afternoon’s grass races to be moved to the main track.
A lack of pace clarity has followed the Triple Crown trail to the Preakness at Pimlico. Once again, the majority of analysts are forecasting taxing fractions, but once again, a hot pace isn’t assured.
California Chrome has a small blister in his throat, which Alan Sherman, Art Sherman’s son and top assistant, described as a pimple. He said it appeared before the Derby, went down after treatment, and came back this week.
California Chrome chose neither his parents nor his destiny. As a Thoroughbred racehorse, you pretty much work with what you’re handed at birth, and what he has done is remarkable, rising from the protection of restricted stakes competition to sit atop the sport on a five-race winning streak crowned by the Kentucky Derby.
The silks jockey Victor Espinoza wears when he rides California Chrome have a donkey on the back. The colt’s trainer, Art Sherman, thinks that because of California Chrome’s daylight victory in the Kentucky Derby and his overwhelming favoritism in Saturday’s Preakness Stakes here at Pimlico, there will be a target on his back.
DRF Breeding staff writer Joe Nevills analyzes the Preakness Stakes field, in post position order, in the form of Haiku; a Japanese poem of 17 syllables, in three lines of five, seven, and five.
At the annual Alibi Breakfast on Thursday, retired jockey Ramon Dominguez was honored with the Special Award of Merit, given by the Maryland Jockey Club to someone who has made a positive impact on racing.