Victor Espinoza: California Chrome ‘looks unbelievable’ but San Diego more of a test run

Geoffrey Riddle reports on California Chrome's return to the track after a long lay-off in Saturday's San Diego Handicap.

Martin Dokoupil / AP Photo

Victor Espinoza is plagued by the old fear that Dubai World Cup winners do not have the best records when required on their next starts.

California Chrome swings back in to action for the first time since he laid to rest his defeat to Prince Bishop in 2015 in the world’s most valuable race in March when he takes on Dortmund and five others in the Grade Two San Diego Handicap on Saturday.

The athletic chestnut is rated only 85 per cent by trainer Art Sherman for his first start in America since January, and with bigger targets such as next month’s clash with Beholder in the Pacific Classic there is the distinct impression the race’s $200,000 (Dh734,590) target is merely preparatory.

"I think going to Dubai takes a lot out of a horse," Espinoza told The National from Del Mar. "He has had a lot of time off since then and went to Taylor Made Farm where they did a lot of good work with him.

“He looks unbelievable but you never know. My biggest thing is that he runs well and comes back just safe and healthy.”

Part of Espinoza’s fear most likely derives from the appalling time California Chrome had subsequent to his surprise defeat to Prince Bishop. America’s 2014 Horse Of The Year missed out on intended engagements at Royal Ascot and in the Arlington Million due to injury and did not race again until January.

It would not be the first time a champion crowned at the UAE’s leading racecourse has struggled.

You have to go back to Gloria De Campeao, one of the worst winners of the World Cup, before you get a horse who ran a decent race on his subsequent start, and even then he was beaten by Lizard’s Desire, whom he beat at Meydan, when runner-up in the International Cup in Singapore in May 2010. Curlin, in 2008, was the last World Cup winner to secure victory next time out.

And it is not as if Bob Baffert, Dortmund’s trainer, is shying away from the battle. Dortmund, who weighs in at just under 1,400lbs (635kg) and himself has not raced for 239 days, has won eight of his 10 starts, and those defeats came in the unique circumstances of American Pharoah, last season’s Triple Crown hero, winning both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes.

"We're going to let Dortmund do the talking. He has pretty good credentials himself," Baffert told the San Diego Union Tribune.

“We’ll see what he can do coming off a lay-off. I don’t feel like I’m bringing in a huge underdog. To me, Dortmund and Chrome are two quality horses running against each other.”

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