California Chrome heads the San Diego Handicap at Del Mar on Saturday, and 6 brave souls were originally set to line up with an upset on their possible agenda, but 2 of those runners have already been scratched.
The $200,000 Grade 2 fixture will be run at a mile and a sixteenth and there are several Graded winners in the cast that California Chrome will have to deal with to win.
Over the years, the San Diego has been won by some true stars. The great Native Diver won the race in 3 consecutive years. Bates Motel on the San Diego on his way to an Eclipse Award and Skywalker won the San Diego in 1986 and then parlayed the win to a victory in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.
Since winning the 2014 Horse of the Year, California Chrome has had an interesting campaign. He returned last year and ran second in his first start of 2015 and was second again in the Group 1 $10 million Dubai World Cup.
Freshened from that second until January of this year, California Chrome got an ideal 2-hold trip and won the Grade 2 San Pasqual as the 3-5 favorite.
Bigger things were on the horizon for this superstar and off he went to Dubai again. He won a $150,000 prep race in February of this year and that set him up perfectly for his tour de force in the Dubai World Cup, when he inhaled a classy crew of 11 rivals to win going away by nearly 4 lengths.
The make that recent World Cup even more impressive is the fact that the saddled slipped on California Chrome and his rider could barely control the runner.
Having a saddle slip during a race is a very dangerous thing. It is kind of like driving down the road in your own car and all of a sudden the steering wheel falls off. The jockey has absolutely no control of the runner and basically has to hold on for dear life and try to guide the runner by instinct.
Otherwise, this runner has been expertly handled by trainer Art Sherman and was wisely given time to recoup from such an ambitious travelling schedule.
The 5-year-old son of Lucky Pulpit trained during June at Los Alamitos in Orange County, California but he once again showed his affinity for the Del Mar surface in a sensational workout last Saturday. In that 5-furlong work, California Chrome was clocked in :59 1/5, the best of 85 works at that distance that morning.
California Chrome’s regular rider Victor Espinoza will be aloft and from the rail out his rivals include Hard Aces.
This runner showed his class last year winning the Grade 1 Gold Cup with a 99 Beyer Speed Figure but has not been victorious since.
Dortmund, who will be about 7-5, is the horse that California Chrome has to worry about. The Bob Baffert student will be making his first start since winning a Grade 3 at Del Mar last summer.
He has earned over $1.7 million in his career and is repeatedly proven off the vacation.
Crittenden will be trying to do something he never has and that is win on dirt. All 4 of his victories have come on grass and he had not won since Halloween of last year when getting up by a neck in a restricted $82,000 stakes. That race is a far cry from the quality in this fray.
Follow Me Crew broke his maiden in a $30,000 maiden claimer so he is truly barking up the wrong tree. He has tried his luck in a pair of Graded races in his career and was out of the money both times. Enough said.
California Chrome is next and is tabbed at 3-5 on the morning line and will probably go shorter.
On the outside is Win the Space. He is a lightly-raced 3 for 11 performer and is coming off a clever 107 Beyer Speed Figure when second in the Gold Cup.
In his lone win this year, Win the Space only beat 4 horses and he was fully extended too, winning by a mere nose.
This is how the race figures to unfold. Dortmund, who has won 8 of 10 in his career, will be forwardly placed breaking from the inside.
California Chrome should be on his flank or he may even be able to make the lead. Win the Space could fall into a perfect garden trip but he will be taxed to outgun the top pair.
At the top of the lane expect California Chrome to assert himself and have enough in the tank, just like he did back in 2014 when he won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness.
