Taylor Made has acquired Steve and Carolyn Coburn’s ownership interest in reigning Horse of the Year and dual Classic winner California Chrome.
“We are thrilled to be part owners of such a historic racehorse as California Chrome, and are most grateful to Steve & Carolyn Coburn and Perry & Denise Martin for giving us this exceptional opportunity and entrusting him with our care,” said Duncan Taylor, President & CEO of Taylor Made. “California Chrome is simply the all-time leading earner from the A.P. Indy sire line, and he’s a tremendously good-looking, athletic, and well-balanced horse who possesses great speed. Remarkably, he became the fifth Kentucky Derby winner from his deep female family, and he embodies the incredible toughness and soundness of the throwbacks from his family. You won’t find many horses of his quality that made 18 starts in 23 months. He’s just now getting his first break from training.”
Dr. Larry Bramlage of Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, KY added: “California Chrome’s x-rays showed all of his joints to be remarkably clean. He has the early signs of bruising to the bottom of the cannon bones. Horses training at high levels for long periods of time, like California Chrome has, gradually get behind in the bone’s response to the stress because we train them and then ask them to stand in the stall for most of the day. Horses evolved as grazing animals and that is how their bone’s blood supply works best. So the treatment is to get them back to their natural state, let them be a horse in the paddock until the bone returns to normal. The return rate for horses with this problem is very high. When we researched prognosis for distal cannon bone bruising, we found that recovery rate was 95% after giving time in the paddock to heal.”
Trained by Art Sherman, California Chrome captured four Grade 1 victories a year ago, and became just the fourth 3-year-old colt since 2000 to earn Horse of the Year honors, joining an elite group that includes Tiznow and Curlin. California Chrome’s biggest victories came in America’s first two jewels of the Triple Crown – the prestigious Kentucky Derby (G1) and Preakness S. (G1). Those Classic wins were part of a six-race win streak that started at the end of his 2-year-old season, and also included a dominant win in the Santa Anita Derby (G1) where he earned a 107 Beyer and became the favorite for the Derby.
Later at three, California Chrome was beaten a neck in his first start against older horses in the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1), earning a 113 Beyer in the race, and he closed his nine-race championship season with a victory in the Hollywood Derby (G1) on turf, giving him stakes wins on all three surfaces.
As a 2-year-old, California Chrome broke his maiden in May at 4 ½ furlongs over the synthetic surface at Hollywood Park and went on to make seven starts as a juvenile, including easy wins in the $100,000 Graduation S. at Del Mar and $200,000 King Glorious S. at Hollywood. California Chrome started his 3-year-old year with a victory in the $250,000 Cal Cup Derby before earning his first graded stakes win in the San Felipe S. (G2) at Santa Anita, earning a 108 Beyer and vaulting onto the Derby Trail.
This year, California Chrome was a good runner-up to Shared Belief in the San Antonio Inv. (G2), and accepted an invitation to run in the $10 million Dubai World Cup (G1) at Meydan where he finished second. He’s now competed in 16 stakes from his 18 starts, including 11 graded stakes and eight Grade 1s.
Bred by Steve Coburn and Perry Martin, California Chrome currently owns a record of nine wins, three seconds, and a third from those 18 starts – all within a 23-month period – and earnings of $6,322,650. The plan for California Chrome going forward is to monitor his progress closely to see if he will return to racing in 2016 or start his stallion career for the current owners, Perry and Denise Martin and Taylor Made.
Relive California Chrome’s greatest racing moments to date:
