Steven Coburn and Perry Martin's Horse of the Year and champion 3-year-old California Chrome (Lucky Pulpit) is ready for his seasonal debut in Saturday's GII San Antonio S. at Santa Anita, according to trainer Art Sherman. “My horse is doing great,” offered Sherman. “As a 4-year-old, he got bigger and stronger. He looks super. He's put on weight and I'm just so delighted to be able to run him as a 4-year-old.”
The conditioner also noted that he's looking forward to another showdown with Shared Belief.
“He's really a nice horse,” Sherman said of the Hollendorfer trainee. “I felt bad for him in the Breeders' Cup because he didn't really have a good shot at it, but I've been wanting to meet his horse heads up for a long time. It's going to be interesting, and I hope everybody has a fair shake at it this time. I get goose bumps when I think about [the showdown]. There's a lot at stake. It's like 'Alright, who's the champion on the block?' It reminds me of when were kids and we had the hotrods and we were going for pink slips. It's going to be fun, and whatever happens, I want them to have a fair shake at it.”
Sherman said that the connections have already begun to think about the dual Classic winner's 4-year-old campaign, and the G1 Dubai World Cup is a major target.
“The owners always said they'd like to see him run against the best in the world, so I guess that's where we have to be after this race,” Sherman said. “It's a long way. When your horse goes over there, they say it takes them about three months to recover from that trip. He's an adaptable type of horse, so I'm not worried about it that much. I just like to go one race at a time and hope he comes back to them in good shape.”
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