May 17, 2014
I’m totally flipping my lid again. It’s another day at the races, another day of hats and horses, and once again California Chrome, the three-year-old American Thoroughbred foaled in Coalinga, California, is a winner. This time he (yes, I will use the gender specific personal pronoun) won the Preakness Stakes which, when added to his early win at the Kentucky Derby, makes him a contender for the Triple Crown. The last time a horse did that was 36 years ago when Affirmed became the 11th horse to take the title. Since then 12 horses have won both the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes, but failed to win that last race.
California Chrome earned $1.4 million for winning the Kentucky Derby and $900,000 for his Preakness win. Pretty good for a horse sired on an $8,000 mare, Love the Chase, for a stud fee of only $2,000 by Harris Farms’ Lucky Pulpit.
So my hat’s actually off to California Chrome for finishing a length and a half in front of Ride on Curlin. Next up: New York’s Belmont Stakes on June 7th. If he wins, it’ll be his 7th win in a row.
Come on, Lucky 7!
There’ll be a lot of hats flying around if that happens!