By Ben Massam
Los Alamitos Race Course has created a Dec. 17 stakes race designed to serve as a stepping stone for California Chrome LLC's resident champion California Chrome (Lucky Pulpit) en-route to an expected start in the inaugural running of the $12-million GI Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park Jan. 28, the track's marketing department confirmed Monday afternoon. As first reported in the Daily Racing Form Monday, the race–dubbed the Winter Challenge–will be run over 1 1/16 miles and is expected to carry a flexible purse structure aimed to attract runners to compete against California Chrome. The total value of the race will depend on the number of starters, with the winner's share expected to total $50,000.
“It's great to be able to run the horse in Orange County, because he has so many fans there,” trainer Art Sherman told the TDN Monday. “It's the right timing for a prep prior to the Pegasus, so I'm looking forward to it very much. It makes it nice that I don't have to ship him. The timing is just perfect.”
Despite being stabled and trained at Los Alamitos for the majority of his career, all-time leading money earner California Chrome has never competed over the surface he is most familiar with. Voted Horse of the Year as a 3-year-old in 2014, the chestnut is considered a front-runner to land that award again in 2016 by virtue of a six-for-seven campaign that included wins in the G1 Dubai World Cup, GI Pacific Classic S. and GI Awesome Again S. Recently a hard-fought runner-up behind Arrogate (Unbridled's Song) in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic Nov. 5, the celebrated Cal-bred has posted two workouts at Los Alamitos in the interim–including a four-panel move in :47.40 (5/41) Saturday.
“He looked great,” Sherman added. “He went in 47 and change and galloped out a minute and three-fifths. He came out of the race really well. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed.”
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