By Wordsmith Media
NEWMARKET, Great Britain (May 11, 2015) — California Chrome looks well and enjoys working the wide open spaces of the Newmarket gallops as trainers condition the American champion for his Royal Ascot target and first English race on undulating turf, on June 17.
Trainers Art Sherman in California and Rae Guest in Newmarket are in touch frequently. Both long-time trainers know they have to teach this horse new tricks.
“It’s a whole new ballgame,” Sherman said.
Guest closely watches how the horse is training at each step; he recently recommended that Chrome pass on speculation he might contest the Lockinge Stakes on May 16, as a warm-up race. He wasn’t ready. The next step, in the form of a racecourse gallop, will come “when we’re happy with him and he’s up to speed,” Guest said.
As the trainer of record, Sherman closely follows the progress reports. Chrome seems to be learning from his slow start, he said. “He’s taking his head up.”
Drier weather conditions in England have the turf firmer than local horses usually run, which is to Chrome’s liking, according to his handlers. America’s 2014 Horse of the Year will also have to work on making some right-hand turns.
The horse will adapt, Sherman said. “I don’t think it should be an issue.”
Sherman depends on the expertise Guest and his team bring to Chrome’s training for Ascot. “I’m not familiar with how they do things in England; they are familiar with things there.”
Familiarity with Ascot also fuels the potential participation of famed Italian jockey Frankie Dettori – a three-time Prince of Wales’s Stakes champion – in Chrome’s training. Sherman said he met with Dettori in Dubai in late March and suggested getting horse and rider together. No precise date has been set for such a ride.
“He’s a hard rider to get,” Sherman said, “but it makes sense to go with somebody who knows the course. He’d be doing me a favor, sitting on him.” Dettori would provide valuable feedback on how Chrome is responding to the new surface and terrain. Riding Chrome could be construed as “an audition,” Sherman said.
Dettori’s knowledge of the specific race route is considered second-to-none; he won the Prince of Wales’s Stakes in 2001, 2002 and 2011, and for a European jockey, his riding style is similar to American riders. Dettori’s European celebrity can only heighten the excitement around Chrome’s appearance at Royal Ascot.
American jockey, Victor Espinoza, rode Chrome through the 2014 Triple Crown cycle, the Breeder’s Cup Classic, The Hollywood Derby on turf, the San Antonio Stakes and, this spring, the second-place finish at the Dubai World Cup. Espinoza has raced at Royal Ascot once before; that was last year when he had five rides for Wesley Ward and he came away with a win on Hootenanny in the Windsor Castle Stakes, over the straight course.
Sherman emphasized that neither jockey — or any other — has been designated for Chrome at Ascot. Back-to-back Kentucky Derby winner Espinoza is currently committed to 2015 Triple Crown prospect, American Pharoah. Dettori is on retainer to certain racing interests and will have to weigh conflicts and scheduling.
* * *
Guest explained Chrome’s training regimen, under exercise rider Robbie Mills. After a warm-up around the ring at Chestnut Tree Stables, he is off to the galloping grasslands that Newmarket is famous for, adjacent to Chrome’s temporary English home.
Each day, Mills gets Chrome tacked up and into the indoor ring under Guest’s watchful eye, for a walk-round with Montecristo, a 22-year-old retired winner of 18 races and a stable legend. Following the early workout at the outdoor ring, Chrome and Montecristo walk through the trees onto a horse track that leads onto the open expanse of the gallops.
“He’ll do a steady canter now but he has been using the gallops on the grass,” Guest said. “It’s not his natural game. He’s had a lifetime of galloping in a (flat) circle, now he’s got wide-open and undulations.”
Mills, who once rode as a winter exercise rider for Art and Alan Sherman at their former home at Hollywood Park, feels privileged to ride Chrome in practice. Rides vary from walks and jogs at Guest’s ring to canters behind the nearby Rowley Mile race course, and fast work on the famed Newmarket gallops. Most of the gallops have plenty of undulations that Chrome will need to get used to, Mills said. In British racing, nearly all of the tracks have some sort of undulation, including Ascot. He’s taken the horse out on the summer gallops at least a dozen times, riding a mile or so each session.
All of Chrome’s fast work had been done on turf , Mills said. Citing the 2014 turf win at the Hollywood Derby at Del Mar, he said it is not a surprise the horse is navigating the terrain so well.
“He is improving the way we would like him to,” Mills said. “There are a few dips and dives on (the gallops) and every time he’s been on there he’s improved and he handles them well.”
Mills finds Chrome versatile on various surfaces, which should stand him in good stead as an American horse contesting a Royal Ascot race.
“If there is any horse who can take the challenge, it’s him,” Mills said. “He’s so laidback and has settled in so well”.
* * *
California Chrome took a good couple of weeks just resting after his epic journey to Dubai and hard race there, followed by the subsequent trip to Britain. Both Guest and Mills stated that initial training consisted of just light walking and a lot of sleep for recovery. Chrome loves going out for a pick of fresh green grass after a workout.
Training gradually picked up, as did Chrome’s appetite.
“Ever since he’s been here he’s been eating and drinking well and not left a thing; he always cleans his bowl out,” Mills said.
“He has kept his coat well; he’s put on plenty of condition and has been putting on weight at a good rate. He looks and feels very well.” Mills added he can tell the difference when he rides him out. “He looks great in his skin.” Similar sentiments were expressed by Guest who is very happy with how Chrome is progressing.
In the remaining weeks until the June 17 meet, Guest will introduce more challenging conditions simulating those of the actual Ascot race. Chrome’s California assistant trainer Alan Sherman and groom Raul Rodriguez will come to Newmarket to participate in the preparation, followed by Art Sherman, prior to the race.
“Now we will keep upping his work, upping and upping over the next few weeks, but he’s going really well,” Mills said.
There has been a great deal of media interest in Chrome in England, said Rae’s wife, Rachel, and Chrome shares an interest in the media.
As a Kentucky Derby winner and much-loved celebrity horse, Chrome is used to the spotlight and media attention, Mills said. “He loves the click of a camera,” and picks up his posture to suit.