With regular rider Victor Espinoza up, California Chrome went his first quarter in 24.14 seconds and his second quarter in 23.30, according to DRF clocker Mike Welsch. It only got better from there, as he galloped out five furlongs in 59.59 seconds, six furlongs in 1:12.61, seven furlongs in 1:26.34, and pulled up a mile in 1:40.92.
That’s a sharp move. His official time for the four-furlong breeze was :47.69.
“I’m not a clocker but California Chrome looked full of run and seemed to have plenty left in the tank,” tweeted Jerry Bossert.
Here’s video of the work:
More on California Chrome’s work, as well as the other Belmont starters’ workouts this morning, at the Blood-Horse.
6/1/14 Addendum: Welsch weighs in (DRF+). “The best part of the work came after the wire, as California Chrome galloped out with tremendous energy, even with Espinoza rising up in the saddle shortly past the finish line …”
“Heading into the second turn [when you’re used to a smaller oval], your hands and body language are trained to give the horse its cue,” said Migliore. “You open your knees and lower your seat [asking your horse to pick it up]. The problem is [at Belmont Park] you’re not three furlongs from home at that point. You’re probably four and a half furlongs from the wire. And once you give the horse that cue, you can’t take it back.”
There’s a great interactive graphic in Frank Angst’s Triple Crown opus that shows the differing proportions of the classic races (scroll to the midpoint): 14% of the Belmont Stakes happens in the stretch; 51% takes place in the turns. “I rode that track every day and you’re still tempted to let your horse move as you drop into that far turn,” Jerry Bailey told Angst. I wonder if the challenge for Victor Espinoza on June 7 will be not his own impulse to move with California Chrome then, but that other riders and horses surely will …
Beholder schooled in a new way — without a pony but with a saddle and regular exercise rider David Nuesch. Like previous schooling sessions, she wore a hood to block noise, and Racing Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella distracted her with peppermints. The team put the saddle on soon after she arrived at the paddock, and Nuesch mounted a few minutes before she exited, but she didn’t react to either change. She usually goes crazy at some point during schooling, but this time she behaved absolutely perfectly.
Sounds like she’s physically and mentally in the same shape as she was before winning last year’s Breeders’ Cup Distaff, and ready to meet Princess of Sylmar and Apple Blossom winner Close Hatches on their home turf.
