California Chrome worked six furlongs over the fast main track at Los Alamitos
Saturday morning in 1:11 4/5 under regular rider Victor Espinoza as the
California-bred son of Lucky Pulpit moved closer to a start in the Grade 2,
$300,000 San Felipe Stakes going 1 1/16 miles on March 8.
“I’m real happy with the work,” trainer Art Sherman said. “I got him galloping out seven furlongs in 1:25. He’ll have one more breeze at
Los Al and we’ll ship to Santa Anita five days before the race for schooling and
final preparations. Victor said he went really nice.”
Meanwhile, on Friday, Shared Belief shipped from Santa
Anita to Golden Gate Fields in the Northern California town of Berkeley.
The undefeated Eclipse Award winner as champion two-year-old
male of 2013, who had been a Future Book favorite for the Kentucky Derby,
has been recovering from a quarter crack on his right front foot.
While he had been galloping on Santa Anita’s conventional
dirt track, the gelded son of Candy Ride has not had a recorded workout since
clocking five furlongs in 1:00 2/5 at that track on January 3. His only other
move at Santa Anita came as another five-furlong move in 1:02 1/5 just 14 days
following his last victory over Hollywood Park’s Cushion Track in the CashCall
Futurity on December 14.
Golden Gate’s main track is a synthetic surface known as Tapeta.
“I need to try something different,” trainer Jerry Hollendorfer said when asked about the move.
FrontRunner Stakes winner Bond Holder, who had shipped to Louisiana for
Saturday’s Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds, is due back in
California Sunday. The Mineshaft colt was scratched from the New Orleans race
after a bumpy, eventful trip.
“He Fed Exed to New Orleans and had a rough flight to say
the least,” explained Dennis O’Neill, brother of Doug O’Neill, who trains the
Virginia-bred.
“The horse got banged up. He cut himself and we just
decided not to run him. He wasn’t right. He’ll be home Sunday and we’ll sit down
and re-evaluate. Hopefully, we’ll breeze him the following week and run (in the
San Felipe) if all goes well.”
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