California Chrome racing for $6 million in Dubai
This galloping adventure gives new meaning to globetrotting.
More than 8,000 miles from home, California Chrome will attempt Saturday to win the world’s richest horse race, the $10 million Dubai World Cup. Representing the United States in an international equine spectacle, the Cinderella colt with humble Central Valley roots will try to add another chapter to his fairy tale career.
California Chrome already has captured the imagination of his home state. The first California-born thoroughbred to win the Kentucky Derby and Preakness races will soon be celebrated with a special exhibit at the state’s California Museum in Sacramento. He’s the best-known California horse since Seabiscuit, only faster.
“He’s a rock star,” trainer Art Sherman said. “He’s got a following you can’t believe. It’s amazing; his fans are all over the world.”
And now, America’s most famous horse has gone global. Accompanied by his Yuba City co-owners Perry and Denise Martin and partners Steve and Carolyn Coburn of Topaz Lake, Nev., the rags-to-riches chestnut will be a heavy favorite Saturday in the World Cup against a field of all-star horses from the United Arab Emirates, Australia, Great Britain and Japan.
“He’ll have to run the race of his life,” Sherman said. “They’ll be coming at him from all angles. He’ll have a great big target on his back.”
Sherman is confident that California Chrome, North America’s reigning Horse of the Year, is ready for the challenge.
“He’s a lot stronger horse right now,” Sherman said. “He’s training awesome, better than he ever has.”
Now age 4, California Chrome has impressed Dubai handicappers.
“He has it all going for him,” said Pat Cummings of Dubai Racing News. “(He) needs an outside draw ... to really set it up.”
That’s exactly what California Chrome got in Wednesday’s post-position draw for the 2,000-meter (1.24-mile) stakes. With regular rider Victor Espinoza aboard, he’ll break on the far outside in the nine-horse field.
Perfect racing conditions are expected for Saturday’s race, which will run at night under lights. (Post time in Sacramento will be 10 a.m.) Meydan Racecourse, in the desert outside Dubai’s coastal metropolis, recently installed a new dirt main track.
California Chrome already has taken his entourage on an unbelievable adventure. The product of a $10,000 mare and an inexpensive stallion, he was the first horse bred by his owners, who call their one-horse racing stable Dumb Ass Partners. So far, their bargain baby has won nine of 17 starts and more than $4.3 million.
A World Cup victory would add $6 million to that bankroll, boosting Chrome to No. 2 on the list of all-time-richest American horses.
WATCH CHROME RUN
What: $10 million Dubai World Cup, featuring California Chrome and eight other horses
When: 10 a.m. Saturday
TV: FOX Sports 1 and TVG
Watch and wager: Cal Expo will offer advance World Cup wagering Friday. The Sacramento track will simulcast the race live Saturday; gates open at 10 a.m.
A CHROME CELEBRATION
▪ The California Museum (1020 O St., Sacramento) will honor the 2014 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner with a new yearlong exhibit, “California Chrome: A Race for the Dream,” May 2 through April 30, 2016. More details coming soon at www.californiamuseum.org.
This story was originally published March 25, 2015 at 10:46 PM with the headline "California Chrome racing for $6 million in Dubai."