A good time to take on a champion is when he is a little rusty. That is the thinking of those hoping to topple California Chrome in Saturday night’s Grade 2 Pennsylvania Derby at Parx Racing in Philadelphia.
California Chrome has not seen racecourse action since his failure to add the Belmont Stakes to his wins in the first two legs of the Triple Crown in June, the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes.
Seven horses lie in wait, including Tapiture, who won the Grade 2 West Virginia Derby last month, and Bayern, who could not build on his Haskell Invitational win when finishing last in the Travers Stakes 28 days ago.
Bayern’s assistant trainer Jimmy Barnes said this week that California Chrome could be exposed on his comeback run, a sentiment shared by Ron Winchell, owner of Tapiture.
“California Chrome is coming back trying to go a mile and an eighth (1800 metres) against horses in top form; I think that leaves him a little vulnerable, in my book,” Winchell said by teleconference.
“It probably wouldn’t have been my choice if I was the owner of that horse, but it’s definitely a good time to face him. I’d rather face him now than after he had two or three starts.”
California Chrome is using the US$1 million (Dh3.67m) race as a prep for the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita in November, where a clash with Shared Belief is expected. Art Sherman, California Chrome’s trainer, is wary of taking on Shared Belief needlessly before the Classic after the unbeaten colt slammed UAE Derby winner Toast Of New York in the Pacific Classic last month.
Rather than throw down the gauntlet in the Awesome Again Stakes at Santa Anita next week, Sherman would prefer to resume winning ways on the East Coast. A reported $100,000 sweetener for Perry Martin and Steve Coburn helped the two owners set a course towards Philadelphia.
“Shared Belief is a good horse,” Sherman said. “I want California Chrome to be at his best when we face him because he and my horse are the best three-year-olds in the country.
“I was going to leave him in the Awesome Again, but I really think the Awesome Again is going to come up a lot tougher than this race.”
California Chrome has spent the past few months convalescing at Harris Farm in California, where he was reunited with Lucky Pulpit, his sire.
He gashed his heel when dead-heating for fourth in the Belmont behind Tonalist, and the healing process and time out has added an extra 34.2 kilograms to his weight since his first defeat this campaign.
Victor Espinoza, California Chrome’s regular jockey, rode him in work several times before the colt shipped east, where he has been working this week under regular exercise rider Willie Delgado.
California Chrome will emerge from the first gate, which assistant trainer Alan Sherman hopes does not prove to be a problem.
“He likes to rock in the gate,” Sherman said from Parx.
“It’s something he’s always done and we have to deal with it. There’s a couple of speed horses in the race and we hope to maybe be sitting third. We want to make sure we get off the rail and don’t get trapped.”
A California preview of Purebred Arabian series
Los Alamitos Racecourse for the first time hosts the Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan Cup on Saturday night.
The course near Los Angeles has been chosen as one of the leading Purebred Arabian tracks in America next year and will stage the final leg of the inaugural Triple Jewel series.
A US$150,000 bonus (Dh551,000) will be awarded to the horse that gains the most points in each of the three races to be held in Houston, Texas, Pleasanton, California, and Los Alamitos in 2015.
“As sponsors we are delighted with this latest addition to the long list of prestigious races that the Sheikh Mansour Festival stages all over the globe,” said Sheikh Hamdan bin Suroor, Invest AD’s Vice President of Relationship Management.
Valiant Boy SBFAR and RB Champagne Taste head the 10 runners in tonight’s mile contest, which boasts a purse of $47,000.
Valiant Boy SBFAR edged out RB Champagne in a taut duel at Churchill Downs in June when the pair dominated the Grade 1 President Of The UAE Cup.
Their rivalry continued a month later in the Delaware Park Arabian Classic, when Valiant Boy won again. A victory tonight will settle the issue.
“This is another prestigious race which puts both Purebred Arabian horses as well as Abu Dhabi in the spotlight,” said Aref Alawani, secretary general of the Abu Dhabi Sports Council. “We fully support this new race in California.”
Untapable returns in Cotillion
Untapable returns from a stinging defeat to the colts back in August when she runs in the Grade 1 Cotillion at Parx Racing in Philadelphia on Saturday. Untapable was on course for horse-of-the-year honours before trailing at the finish by nine lengths behind Bayern at the Grade 1 Haskill Invitational at Monmouth Park Racetrack in Long Branch, New Jersey.
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