California Chrome Heading Home Soon

With ‘mission accomplished’ in Dubai the biggest equine rockstar on the planet–aka California Chrome–will be heading home on Thursday. For the time being, it’ll be ‘rest and relaxation’ for the biggest moneywinner in North American racing history. He’ll be walked by assistant trainer Alan Sherman every day until he reaches his final destination of Kentucky’s Taylor Made Farms. At that point, he’ll have a month off before resuming training in anticipation of a couple of big money races later this season.

Chrome’s first stop will be Chicago where he’ll undergo several days of quarantine before being vanned to Taylor Made’s facility just outside of Lexington, Kentucky. Right now, the plan is to give him ‘three or four weeks’ of rest. Regardless of the specifics, the reality is that California Chrome has taken care of business and anything else he does this year is just icing on the cake. According to both head trainer Art Sherman and his son/assistant trainer Alan Sherman, California Chrome “came out of his race great.”

So what is left for California Chrome to accomplish before he retires to stud and stands at Taylor Made next year? He just put $6 million in the pockets of his ownership group and has won 12 of 21 starts including the Dubai World Cup, Santa Anita Derby, Kentucky Derby and Preakness. He’s even got a Grade 1 turf win for good measure. In the process, he’s earned $12,532,650, a record for a North American-based Thoroughbred. The $6 million he earned this past weekend pushed him well past Curlin, who won the Dubai World Cup in 2008 when the purse for the race was $6 million.

The big target for the rest of the year is the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita. He may also take a ‘prep race’ in the Pacific Classic at Del Mar. The plan for now is for California Chrome to head out to California at the end of April and rejoin Art Sherman’s training stable at Los Alamitos. He’s being given a good shot to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic with some UK bookies pricing him at 4-1 in antepost betting.