Countdown to the Crown

Sherman to Stick With His Winning Formula…
   Colburn and Perry’s California Chrome (Lucky Pulpit) will put in his first work since Apr. 26 this Saturday in Elmont in preparation for the GI Belmont S. June 7. Art Sherman, trainer of the Triple Crown hopeful, said during an NTRA teleconference yesterday that the workout will be routine maintenance. 
    “I think he’ll go half-a-mile in 48 and change,” Sherman said. “We don’t need a whole lot. We just want to open up his lungs and get a feeling for the racetrack. He’s run three hard races and I want to keep it all in him. He’ll put out when you run him in the afternoon, and that’s where it counts.” 
    While California Chrome’s fitness is of little doubt after running three races in five weeks, the Belmont’s mile and a half distance is an unpredictable challenge. Sherman said that there is little more he can do to prepare, and he will place his faith in jockey victor Espinoza and the horse that brought him this far. 
    “Going a mile and a half is going to be a whole new ball game,” Sherman acknowledged. “I’m going to leave a lot of it up to Victor.” 
    The other unknown before next Saturday’s race is the weather. An early forecast calls for a 70% chance of rain. While California Chrome has never run on a wet track before, Sherman said that he thinks a sloppy track would be advantageous to the heavy favorite. 
    “A sloppy race track will be packed down and if he can hear his feet rattle on that racetrack I think it will be to his advantage,” Sherman said. 
    Sherman also said that he expects the way opposing jockeys deal with California Chrome to change after seeing the near-perfect trips he had in the GI Kentucky Derby and the GI Preakness S. 
    “He’s going to have a target on his back,” Sherman said. “Everyone knows that they can’t let him have everything his way or they won’t be able to beat him.” 
    Espinoza, who is six-for-six aboard California Chrome, has developed a strong bond with his mount that Sherman has come to rely on. The trainer said that he will trust Espinoza to adapt to the obstacles that emerge once the race starts. 
    “[Espinoza has] gotten to know him so well, I never give him any instructions when he rides that horse,” Sherman said. “I don’t look for anything different.” 
    Sherman concluded by saying that, despite the unknowns, he is confident heading into next week. 
    “He looks awful good right now,” Sherman said. “I’m happy with the way he’s training.” 

Wicked Strong Proceeding According to Plan… 
    After Centennial Farms’s Wicked Strong (Hard Spun) finished fourth in GI Kentucky Derby May 3, his connections were quick to rule him out of the GI Preakness S. two weeks later. Trainer Jimmy Jerkens said Thursday that he had always believed his charge to be best suited for the 12 panels of the GI Belmont S., and after Wicked Strong came out of the Derby with soreness in his pasterns, the focus shifted to ensuring the colt would be ready for the June 7 “Test of the Champion.” 
    “We always thought in the back of our mind that the Belmont would be the Triple Crown race he would have the best shot in,” Jerkens said. “Just because it was right in our back yard and he had shown that the distance would be more up his alley than some of the others in there.” 
    Jerkens noted that the time off has not affected Wicked Strong’s fitness and said that he has been happy with the colt’s works so far. Wicked Strong breezed on the Belmont training track last Sunday, going a mile in 1:39.59 and galloping out 1 1/8 miles in 1:55.22. 
    “We wanted to keep him on the training track to prevent him from going too fast,” Jerkens said. “We want to keep that two-turn kind of a mind frame going into the Belmont to increase our chances of him settling early in the race and saving something for the end.” 
    Despite the longer distance, Jerkens said that he will not alter Wicked Strong’s training regimen in the lead-up to the Belmont. 
    “If a horse has already been running long, you don’t really have to change anything,” Jerkens explained. “A mile and a half is a lot farther than anybody’s been, but he has been making forward motion at the end of all his races, so we figured we would keep up the same kind of training schedule.” 
    Of the race itself, Jerkens said that with the field yet to be finalized and the post positions still to be drawn, it is too early to anticipate the shape it will take. 
    “It’s hard to imagine how the race is going to look,” Jerkens said. “I probably wouldn’t want him on the lead, but it’s going to be up to [jockey Rajiv Maragh] after he comes out of the gate and gallops into the turn. I have confidence in Rajiv, but I really can’t say what the ideal trip would be.” 
    Still, Jerkens believes that it is California Chrome’s race to lose. 
    “[In order for someone else to win] California Chrome is going to have to have a bad day,” Jerkens said. “One of our horses will have to run the race of their life and California Chrome will have to throw in a clunker.” 

Ride On Curlin Resilient After Tough Campaign… 
   If Daniel Dougherty’s Ride On Curlin (Curlin) makes his scheduled start in the GI Belmont S. next Saturday, he will be the only horse other than California Chrome to run in all three Triple Crown races this year. The colt moved into seventh late after running in last for most of theGI Kentucky Derby May 3, and rallied gamely to finish second in the GI Preakness S. May 17. He arrived in New York to prepare for the Belmont May 20 and galloped a mile and a half Thursday morning. Trainer Billy Gowan said that his charge is not showing any signs of slowing down despite his arduous campaign. 
    “So far his energy level is just as high as it’s always been,” Gowan revealed. “He hasn’t missed an oat since before the Kentucky Derby. He’s just a tough horse.” 
    Gowan said he is hoping to work Ride on Curlin Sunday, weather permitting. 
    Two-time Belmont winner John Velazquez will have the mount in next Saturday’s Belmont, taking the reins from Joel Rosario, who piloted Ride On Curlin in the Preakness. Rosario will be aboard Tonalist (Tapit) in next Saturday’s race. Velazquez will be the fifth jockey to board Ride On Curlin in as many starts, but Gowan insists that the change will not be an issue. 
    “The horse makes the trainer, the jockey and everybody,” Gowan said. “I’m happy to have [Velazquez]. He knows this track as well as any jockey out there.” 
    As for the chances of California Chrome being upset, Gowan said that any horse that hopes to do so will need ideal conditions to pull it off. 
    “It’s going to take a really good horse to beat [California Chrome],” Gowan admitted. “He’s shown he’s a good horse with a lot of heart, so it’s going to take a little bit of luck, a fast horse, and a good trip to beat him.” 
    Gowan added, however, that he likes his horse’s chances. 
    “I’ve got closer to California Chrome than anyone else has this year,” Gowen said. “So hopefully with a little added distance we can take him.”

‘Curve’ Looks to Find Another Gear… 
   West Point Thoroughbreds’s Commanding Curve (Master Command) arrived at Belmont in good order Thursday afternoon. The 37-1 GI Kentucky Derby longshot, who rallied to take second, skipped the Preakness in his connection’s hopes that more rest could lead to further development. 
    “We figured that we weren’t going to be a Triple Crown winner, so we might as well give the horse more time,” trainer Dallas Stewart said. “Hopefully it will benefit us for this race.” 
    Stewart and Terry Finley’s West Point operation have opted to move slowly with the colt throughout the year, and they believe that because of that approach, Commanding Curve still has room to grow. 
    “We’ve taken our time with him and he’s progressed nicely,” Stewart said. “And I expect that to continue.” 
    So far, Stewart said he is happy with how his charge has prepared for the Belmont. 
    “He’s trained very steady and looks great to me,” Stewart said. “We hope to get a decent breeze on Saturday or Sunday, and we’ll go from there.” 
    Stewart, who took a second-place Derby finisher into last year’s Belmont with Golden Soul (Perfect Soul {Ire})–who checked in ninth–noted that because the distance is an unknown for all of the horses in the race, the playing field is more even. 
    “All of these horses are untested at this distance, so it’s going to be interesting to see how it sorts itself out,” Stewart said. “Whichever horse takes to the distance is going to take the race. I think [California Chrome] could run his race and still get outrun.” 
    As for what he hopes for in Commanding Curve’s trip, Stewart said that his charge needs to not be left with too much to do when the real running begins. 
    “He needs to be placed well and not as far back as he was in the Derby,” Stewart offered. “He just needs to have a chance from the quarter-pole from the wire. That would be the best-case scenario for him.”