When California Chrome headed to Belmont Park in early June, he looked like a lock for, if not the Triple Crown, at least an Eclipse Award for champion 3-year-old, and maybe Horse of the Year.  But after a fourth-place finish in the Belmont, California Chrome went winless in his next two races, finishing sixth in the Pennsylvania Derby and third in the Breeders’ Cup Classic, creating the looming prospect that he’d be shut out of end-of-year honors entirely, despite having won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness.  So his trainer Art Sherman called an audible, pointing the dual Classic winner to the Hollywood Derby at Del Mar last Saturday, and with a 2-length victory, California Chrome may well have wrapped up the two championships that had looked to be his earlier this year.  The Hollywood Derby is run on the grass, a surface over which California Chrome had never raced, but he’d begun his career on California’s synthetic tracks, which are generally believed to play more like grass than dirt.  “Art said he had a real strong gut feeling that this horse would run on the grass,” said Steve Coburn, who owns California Chrome in partnership with Perry Martin. “We said, ‘OK Art, if you really feel that strong, let’s find a race for him.’ This was it.”  “It was just like when he won the [Kentucky] Derby,” said jockey Victor Espinoza. “He just turned it on and I knew we were home. You can see now that grass is no problem. Grass, dirt, synthetic – you name it. This horse likes it and he’ll run on it.”  California Chrome will end the year with six wins in nine races and earnings of more than $4 million, and while those Eclipse Awards are within his grasp, he won’t be without challengers.
A string of losses had left California Chrome in dubious position for championship honors, but an unexpected move by his trainer has the Kentucky Derby back in the conversation for Horse of the Year.