Espinoza believes California Chrome will be better in 2015

California Chrome’s four-year-old campaign could be his best, according to Espinoza (Cecilia Gustavsson/Horsephotos.com)

Art Sherman not only trains California Chrome, he’s also a
fan.

Like the rest of the racing world, Sherman, who turns 78 on February 17, is
looking forward to February 7, when the respective one-three-four finishers in the Breeders’
Cup Classic — Bayern, California Chrome and Shared Belief — could meet in the Grade
2, $500,000 San Antonio Stakes at Santa Anita Park.

Towards that goal, California Chrome worked six furlongs at
his Los Alamitos base Saturday in 1:12 3/5 under regular rider Victor Espinoza.

“He worked unbelievable,” Espinoza said. “He went in 1:12 and change, which is what I wanted from him. He was pulling a lot. He’s
getting tougher; he’s on his toes right now. He’s basically better than before.

“He has completely changed as he’s getting older. As a
four-year-old, he’s going to be a different horse. He works differently. Yesterday
was the slowest I could go. He’s pulling hard, which he never used to do. He’s
tough.

“He’s building back up big time physically. He tries to
jump around and bite the pony every chance he gets and I believe in 2015 he’ll
run the best races of his life. He’s an amazing horse and he did
unbelievable things in 2014 but I’m really looking forward to 2015.”

First things first, though.