California Chrome will run in his final preparation race for the Breeders in the Awesome Again Stakes at Santa Anita this Saturday/ Sunday morning SA time. Free on the Santa Anita livestream. Also on Saturday twice Arc runner up, Flintshire, will try to remain unbeaten this season when he lines up at Belmont.
California Chrome Draws Rail in Awesome Again
Art Sherman was a swirling mixture of exasperation and confidence when he learned of California Chrome 's draw for the $300,000 Awesome Again Stakes (gr. I) Oct. 1 at Santa Anita Park.
On one hand, the trainer could not be more sanguine about his chestnut superstar, coming off arguably the most impressive win of his career in the TVG Pacific Classic (gr. I). On the other hand, he's tired of drawing the rail, where the 2014 Horse of the Year will be for the 1 1/8-mile test and last prep for the Breeders' Cup Classic (gr. I).
The inside post in a 1 1/4-mile race like the Pacific Classic is a bit different than in a 1 1/8-mile event, especially with the presence of Dortmund just to his outside in post 2. The massive son of Big Brown gave California Chrome his toughest test of his current five-race win streak when he finished just a half-length back in the 1 1/16-mile San Diego Handicap (gr. II) at Del Mar July 23 before he ran third in the son of Lucky Pulpit 's dominating Pacific Classic.
BALAN: California Chrome Superior in Pacific Classic
Kaleem Shah's Dortmund, trained by Bob Baffert, will also don blinkers for just the second time in his career. The first time was back in November of 2014, when he won his debut as a 2-year-old going 6 1/2 furlongs at Santa Anita by 4 3/4 lengths.
"I don't know what to think," Sherman said. "I get tired of getting the 1 hole, but there's nothing you can do about it now. He'll come out of there running, but if Dortmund wants the lead, we'll let him go."
Off his Pacific Classic win, California Chrome is in line for a $1 million bonus should he also win the Awesome Again and Breeders' Cup Classic.
The rest of the seven-horse field in the Awesome Again, a Breeders' Cup Challenge "Win and You're In" race to the Classic, is made up of quality equine talent, but any other reaching the wire first would be considered a stunning upset.
Grade I winners Hoppertunity and Hard Aces have both shown flashes in the past, but would need a stark form reversal to find the winner's circle Saturday. Both were in the Pacific Classic and both were unthreatening, albeit at different degrees. Hoppertunity, also trained by Baffert, finished fourth, 8 1/4 lengths behind California Chrome in the Pacific Classic, and Hard Aces came in 25 back in eighth. The other entrant turning back from the Pacific Classic is Win the Space, who was pulled up in the stretch.
Unlike so many other races he's participated in recently, California Chrome won't be the only entrant who was bred in the Golden State. Soi Phet and El Huerfano are stakes winners but lack the overall class of the top runners in the Awesome Again.
Soi Phet does, however, have the only other win streak in the field. An 11-time winner from 48 starts, the 8-year-old Tizbud gelding trained by Leonard Powell won the Harry F. Brubaker Stakes at Del Mar Aug. 24 and followed that up with a score in the E.B. Johnston Stakes Sept. 10 at Los Alamitos Race Course.
The Cinderella horses and the contenders will all load up in the same gate as California Chrome Saturday, but there's no question where the focus will be when the gates open.
"I think I've got the best horse in the country," Sherman said. "I might be a little prejudiced about it, but, you know, he's done about everything a horse could do. We've travelled all over the country, abroad, and we've never ducked anybody, and it's been a hard journey. He really can't prove anything more to me. I think right now you're going to wind up seeing him the rest of the year at his peak."
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