Look out New York, here comes California Chrome

Philadelphia, PA (SportsNetwork.com) – Just two years after I’ll Have Another won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, another California-based horse is primed and ready to become the 12th horse in history to win the Triple Crown.

California Chrome won the 139th running of the Preakness by 1 1/2 lengths over Ride On Curlin. The son of Lucky Pulpit stormed past Pablo Del Monte around the far turn and then held off the challenges of Social Inclusion and the aforementioned Ride On Curlin to win in 1:54 4/5 – the fastest Preakness since Curlin ran seven years ago. So much for the talk of how slow his Kentucky Derby was and how low a Beyer number he received (97).

Sent off as the 1-2 favorite in the field of 10, California Chrome broke sharply for the second consecutive race and sat a perfect trip outside Pablo Del Monte and the filly, Ria Antonia. Jockey Victor Espinoza, who rode War Emblem to victory in the 2002 Kentucky Derby and Preakness, pushed California Chrome to the outside of the dueling leaders around the first turn as he had in all of his races this year.

From there, the Art Sherman-trained colt sat two lengths off the early fractions of 23 2/5 and 46 4/5. Social Inclusion, the second choice in the wagering, was fifth up the backstretch after getting off to a sluggish start due to being severely anxious in the starting gate.

Pablo Del Monte still led the 10-horse field by a full length after three- quarters went in 1:11, but the Derby champ had him right in his sights. The pace was not as slow as it was two weeks ago, but it was not overly fast, either. Still, Pablo Del Monte ran the first six furlongs about 10 lengths faster than Oxbow did last year when that colt won the Preakness in gate-to- wire fashion.

Once the field reached the final turn, California Chrome grabbed the lead, but Social Inclusion was right at his neck. Meanwhile, Ride On Curlin, who was 8 1/2 lengths off the pace after the first half-mile, began to pass horses one by one on the far outside.

At the top of the stretch, California Chrome stretched his lead on Social Inclusion, just as he did on Samraat and Chitu in the Kentucky Derby and on Hoppertunity and Candy Boy in the Santa Anita Derby.

From there, the favorite had just one horse to beat and that was the oncoming Ride On Curlin, who was making up ground through the stretch in similar fashion as he did two weeks ago. However, California Chrome was not to be denied as he won by 1 1/2 lengths. Ride On Curlin finished second, 6 1/2 lengths in front of Social Inclusion.

The winner paid $3.00 to win as the heavy odds-on favorite. Backers of California Chrome and Ride On Curlin received $18.20 for a $2 exacta and the $2 trifecta with Social Inclusion paid $76.

The Derby winner was still put to the test inside the final furlong, unlike at Churchill Downs when Espinoza basically called it a day inside the 1/16-pole. California Chrome needed to be driven hard this time to hold off Ride On Curlin.

It is easy to see why California Chrome is such a special horse. The colt has tons of speed but is easily rateable. He also bounds away effortlessly when asked with one giant burst of acceleration to put away each and every challenger.

THE BELMONT STAKES AND TRIPLE CROWN

There have been 11 Triple Crown winners in racing history with Affirmed being the most recent in 1978. The world waited 25 years between Citation (1948) and Secretariat (1973), but Seattle Slew (1977) and Affirmed (1978) made it three winners in a six-year stretch.

Since 1978, there have been 12 colts and geldings to win the Kentucky Derby and Preakness only to either lose the Belmont, or in the case of I’ll Have Another, to be unable to race in the third leg of the Triple Crown due to injury.

The closest call came in 1998 when Real Quiet lost a head-bobbing finish to Victory Gallop, while Big Brown (2008) finished dead last after being pulled up by the quarter-pole as the 3-10 favorite.

Two other horses have been 3-10 odds and failed to win the Belmont Stakes after capturing the first two legs.

Spectacular Bid finished third behind Coastal and Golden Act just one year after Affirmed won the Triple Crown, and Smarty Jones was 35 cents to the dollar when beaten a length by Birdstone in 2004.

Between the years 1979 and 2013, Spectacular Bid, Smarty Jones and Big Brown were the only three horses to be favored in all three Triple Crown races. California Chrome will join that threesome in a few weeks at Belmont Park.

Can he accomplish what so many have failed to attain in the last 35 years? If he does, he will have to knock off Wicked Strong, Danza, Tonalist, Samraat, Commanding Curve and probably Ride On Curlin.

Of that group, the toughest challenger (and maybe the only one with a fighter’s chance) is Wicked Strong. The fourth-place Kentucky Derby finisher is the lone colt bred to race the 1 1/2 miles and should get a much better trip in a shorter field than he did in the Derby.

Wicked Strong started from the No. 20 post position at Churchill Downs and closed well to finish fourth. Remember, Ride On Curlin began the Derby from the No. 19 post position and he made up 5 1/4 lengths on California Chrome from that race to the Preakness.

If California Chrome becomes the 12th Triple Crown winner or the 13th since 1979 to fail in the Belmont Stakes, it certainly will be an exciting three weeks, something horse racing needs to keep its sport in the headlines.

Categorized in: Horses