Whatever happens at Gulfstream Park Racecourse in Florida on Saturday, a full stop will be applied to California Chrome’s extraordinary career.
The giant chestnut with the good shoulders and hips, four white socks and the hearts and minds of the whole of the Golden State will clash with his Breeders’ Cup Classic conqueror Arrogate in the Pegasus World Cup, the first US$12 million (Dh44m) horse race.
Much like the old days, there is the air of a match race between the old rivals, who were named the top two horses in the world in London on Tuesday.
Aside from Keen Ice, who was left trailing by more than 10 lengths in their wake at Santa Anita in November, there is little else in the 12-runner field that can touch the protagonists on their best form.
On Sunday, the Dubai World Cup winner will cease being a racehorse and will transfer to Taylor Made Farms, where more than 100 mares have been lined up for his next career as a stallion. Despite a keen debate between connections it was felt that a bid to become the first horse to win two Dubai World Cups was a step too far.
California Chrome’s chances of going out on a high were compromised when he was handed the widest draw of all at the postposition ceremony this week, with Arrogate handed the rail to bookend the field.
The inaugural Pegasus World Cup is staged over 1,800 metres and, with a turn coming fairly early on Victor Espinoza’s 21st ride aboard America’s dual Horse of the Year, looks to be his most difficult.
Espinoza’s association with California Chrome stretches back to the Christmas of 2013 when Arrogate was just a scrawny grey foal of eight months.
So the Mexican rider knows his partner inside out, but he has conceded this week that he made a mistake in defeat at the Breeders’ Cup.
The enduring image of Espinoza repeatedly arching his neck around to try to keep tabs on the weaving Arrogate and Mike Smith in behind will live long in the memory.
The experience is seared on the brain of Smith, too, who at 51 still knows how to tie jockeys up in knots. He is looking forward to duelling with Espinoza in the race that has eclipsed the Dubai World Cup as the most valuable for thoroughbreds.
“I was able to get it into a good spot going into the first turn to where I could see that Victor was looking for me, wanting to know where I was at so that he could gauge his move off of me,” Smith said.
“I was able to position myself in behind Melatonin where he couldn’t really get an eye on me. And so I was just playing that game.
“And then going into the far turn, there was an opportunity to just cut the corner and get Arrogate running and save some ground at the same time.
“Then I tipped back out to my outside so that when he looked in, I was already on the out, and he didn’t really see me until, you know, we straightened up.
“Saying all that, when he did see me and he cut his horse loose on me, Chrome, man, he had some turn of foot. I mean, he left me there for a little bit and it looked like, well, it was pretty much over.”
Art Sherman has been itching for the rematch ever since.
California Chrome is the 79-year-old trainer’s horse of a lifetime, a horse that renewed his sense of adventure and who has taken him around the world.
If California Chrome wins, the $7m cheque will make the son of Lucky Pulpit the highest earner in thoroughbred racing history.
California Chrome arrived in Florida three weeks ago and has worked twice, out of the driving rain that has hit his hometown of Los Alamitos for the past few weeks.
As such, he is in the form of his life and Sherman is convinced his charge will at the very least go down fighting.
“He’s as good as I’ve ever seen him right now,” he said.
“I guess you can just say he’s brightened my life and he’s done a lot for my business to, you know, get some new clients after that.
“With Chrome, you have tactical speed. So I’d look for him — when he’s turning for home and in a position to open up, I think you’re going to see a different horse. I really do.”
Sherman has missed a trick in that the unique race conditions of the Pegasus World Cup, dreamed up by businessman Frank Stronach, allow horses who have not been administered the anti-bleeding drug Lasix to run with a 5lbs concession.
It is a noble move, and in time Stronach hopes to eradicate the usage of the performance-enhancing drug from the race.
South American import Eragon is the only horse in the field who will not be administered the drug on race day.
Prayer For Relief, who ran three times at Meydan last winter, and Keen Ice, who was eighth in the World Cup, are two horses who have run without Lasix in the past 12 months.
California Chrome is the third, and his effort in Dubai without being injected before the race showed his trainer, and the world, that he could put in a huge performance without it.
California Chrome’s saddle slipped far back that night, too, and for Kelly Martin, daughter of owner Perry, it remains his signature race.
“He’s taken us on a wild ride, it has been incredible,” she said. “When I saw him pull away in the stretch in Dubai it took my breath away. When I found out his saddle had slipped back it blew my mind.
“It will be sad to see him go but it will be magnificent to have little Chromes around.”
Racing’s way of keeping the story alive is through bloodlines, and already California Chrome’s genes are in a position to continue on the racecourse.
California Chrome was bred for just $10,500 and so far he has banked $14.5m in prize money. He has two full sisters of racing age, the four-year-old Hope’s Love and three-year-old R Sunday Surprise, both of whom are still maidens. He also has a full brother named Faversham, who has just started galloping and on Wednesday night his three-quarters brother out of Tapit was born and weighed in at 120lbs.
At Santa Anita California Chrome had to give Arrogate 3lbs due to the weight-for-age scale, so were Sherman to dispense with the Lasix the Pegasus World Cup favourite would enjoy an 8lbs turnaround with Arrogate.
It would be a roll of the dice, but one that would give California Chrome an almost overwhelming advantage.
The Juddmonte-owned four-year-old is unbeaten in four of his five starts, however, and his effort to win the Travers Stakes in record time highlighted his raw ability. His devouring of the Santa Anita dirt to reel in California Chrome confirmed that he is one of the sport’s outrageous talents and, deep down, the impression is that California Chrome’s final race is likely to end in defeat.
Smith does not think it will be easy though.
“I think Arrogate might have been the only horse in the world that could have caught him, to be honest with you,” he added. “I asked him and he gave me another gear in there at the hundred yards out, another one as we were coming to the wire. I mean, it’s what it took to beat a horse like him. I mean, it took an unbelievable effort.
“It’s going to take another one here on Saturday.”
Pegasus World Cup runners
Horse, Jockey
• Arrogate, Mike Smith
• Prayer For Relief. Florent Geroux
• Neolithic, John Velazquez
• Noble Bird, Julien Leparoux
• War Story, Antonio Gallardo
• War Envoy, Luis Saez
• Shaman Ghost, Jose Ortiz
• Semper Fortis, Tyler Gaffalione
• Keen Ice, Javier Castellano
• Breaking Lucky, Luis Contreras
• Eragon, Edgar Prado
• California Chrome, Victor Espinoza
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