Sire: Lucky Pulpit
Grandsire: Pulpit
Dam: Love the Chase
Damsire: Not For Love
Sex: Male
Foaled: 2011
Country: United States
Colour: Chestnut
Breeder: Steve Coburn and Perry Martin
Owner: Steve Coburn and Perry Martin (2014-2016), Taylor Made Farm and DF Racing (2016-2018), Loooch Racing Stable (2018-present)
Trainer: Art Sherman (2014-2016), Bob Baffert (2016-2018), Alan Sherman (2018-present)
Jockey: Victor Espinoza (2014-2016), Joel Rosario (2016-2018), Tyler Gaffalione (2018-present)
Record: 26: 16-6-2
Earnings: $14,752,650
Major races: Kentucky Derby (2014), Preakness Stakes (2014), Dubai World Cup (2016), Pacific Classic (2017, 2018)
Awards: American Horse of the Year (2014, 2016), Champion 3-Year-Old Male (2014)
Post Career: In 2019, he was retired from racing and began a new career as a breeding stallion at Taylor Made Farm in Kentucky. In his first season as a breeding stallion, he covered a full book of mares and his offspring have begun to race and have had some success. California Chrome has also been involved in philanthropic efforts, including the California Chrome Horse Rescue and Rehabilitation Center, which aims to rescue and rehabilitate neglected and abandoned horses.
Notable Offspring:
Cali Chrome, 2016
Chrome's Love, 2016
California Love, 2016
California Dreamin, 2016
California Calling, 2016
California Love Story, 2017
California Dream, 2017
California Honey, 2017
California Love Song, 2017
California Chrome is one of the most beloved American racehorses of the modern era, and his story is the rare one that even people who do not follow racing remember. He was a chestnut colt born in February of 2011 in California, distinguished by the four white stockings and the wide blaze that gave him his name. His pedigree was so plain that the breeders nearly skipped the foal entirely. His sire was Lucky Pulpit, a useful but unfashionable California stallion whose stud fee was only 2,500 dollars. His dam was Love the Chase, a modestly bred mare who had won only a single race in her career. His owners were Steve Coburn and Perry Martin, two friends who paid only 8,000 dollars for Love the Chase and who liked to call themselves the Dumb Ass Partners. Their first homebred runner together would carry that humble pedigree to one of the biggest racing fortunes of the decade.
His three year old season in 2014 was a fairy tale. Trained by Art Sherman, who at 77 became the oldest trainer ever to win a Kentucky Derby, California Chrome rolled through the California three year old division, winning the San Felipe Stakes and the Santa Anita Derby before heading to Churchill Downs. Under jockey Victor Espinoza, he won the 2014 Kentucky Derby by a length and three quarters and then took the Preakness Stakes to keep his Triple Crown bid alive. In the Belmont Stakes, he stepped on a shoe at the start, cut his foot, and still ran on bravely to finish in a dead heat for fourth. He was named the 2014 Eclipse Award winner as Horse of the Year, Champion Three Year Old Male, and the favorite of millions of new fans who called themselves the Chromies.
His older horse career might have been even more impressive than his Triple Crown season. He was rested, traveled overseas, and ran a brave but troubled second to Shared Belief in 2014 before reinventing himself in 2016. He won the San Pasqual Stakes at Santa Anita, took the Dubai World Cup by nearly four lengths in track record time despite a slipping saddle on Victor Espinoza, and added the Pacific Classic at Del Mar by five lengths. He also crushed the field in the Awesome Again Stakes at Santa Anita and ran a courageous second to Arrogate in the Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita that fall. He was named Horse of the Year for the second time in 2016, the first horse since Curlin in 2008 to earn the title twice. He retired with a record of 16 wins from 27 starts and earnings of more than 14.7 million dollars, which at the time made him North America's all time leading earner.
He was sent to Taylor Made Farm in Kentucky to begin his stud career, then later moved to Arrow Stud in Japan, where his foals continue to run. He was inducted into the National Museum of Racing's Hall of Fame in 2021. California Chrome stands for everything fans love about Thoroughbred racing. He came from a small California breeding farm, a tiny ownership group, and a pedigree no one would have circled in a sales catalog. He grew up to be a two time Horse of the Year, a Dubai World Cup champion, and a Hall of Famer who beat the best horses in the world. He is the proof, every now and then, that the great American racing dream still happens.
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