California Chrome: Junior's Prom

The marquee horse that wooed thousands to tracks across this wide country and made hundreds of women swoon over his every move is safe and romping at Master Stronach's Hallandale Gulfstream Park #1 (the un-Calder). That particular transcontinental jaunt was a teary experience for regulars at Los Alamitos and a terror-filled day to those similarly destined as California Chrome, for closer than a whisper; a lone gunman shot and killed innocent, vacation-bound travelers. Fear and love, two of the most evocative emotions, set each scene.  From Gulfstream, a police-escorted van deposited the much-heralded champion, emerging fresh and confident as a high school junior prom king, assured of his election and his proper place at the ‘cool kid’s table.'  

Can one ever forget their Junior Prom King?? An ex-paramour I can mentally distance myself from, but that particular Prom King. Never. Tom was my high school Junior Prom King, and he was all bright and shiny. My dress was yellow chiffon with a white beaded bodice, a gown that I held onto for years. It was shiny as well. And no, I was not the queen yet I had a crush on that King. And why not? Tom never lost much of anything during high school (later, his hair) as he was persevering, easy to talk to and popular with everyone, even teachers. With a heavy Southern accent and a hair banded flip, I was a new girl at a mid-western high school filled with greasers and preppies, identities that were as foreign as my French teacher. The unknown aura surrounded me and rendered a formerly confident teenager shy and tongue-tied. Being a new girl in high school was as hellish as it was lonely. My Dad told me that I had two choices: ignore them or beat them, and I guess that I got good at the beating part. That and Tom smiled at me one day in the hall, and my social standing improved. Embracing the idea of an upstart off-bred colt with the awkwardly named connections took me back to those years. And drawing a further parallel, these runners attempting to take down America’s horse in his final race, have been attracting ‘new kid’ snickering. Junior reminds me of a Prom King then and certainly now as he has blossomed into a super horse with a much envied and to-be-copied social network of fans.

California Chrome and his wildly enthusiastic fan club, the Chromies, are a bit of phenomenon in this world of high ticket stakes racing. Enchanted by every element of this horse’s dailies, we follow him and his connections like a Tom-struck teenage girl. Chronicled now in a collection of first-person impressions, our Prom King now has his very own yearbook, entitled “How California Chrome Changed My Life” comprised of essays from sixty-one individuals who relive their track adventures as well as life-affirming experiences regarding their relationship with everything and anything Chrome. Some of these writings are profoundly moving, and others relate experiences ironically placed in identical locales, exampling how a racing experience and ties to Chrome have been uniquely personal. The book can be purchased through https://www.paddockchonicles.com. Proceeds will benefit various thoroughbred charities. The uniqueness of the book is that it captures the fan experience from a very intimate viewpoint, something that consumer product purveyors pay gazillions to consultants to figure out on their behalf. Yet the horse that started out with the nickname of ‘Junior’ not only won big ticket races…he won hearts. No consultant involved.

California Chrome has become the richest horse on planet earth. When he parades to the post on January 28th at the Pegasus World Cup with his constant pilot, Victor Espinoza, Junior will be serenaded by one of the biggest fan clubs ever attributed to a racehorse. Whatever one thinks about the race structure, purpose and so forth, it was created for him. It is Junior’s Prom. 

For the past ten-plus years, there has been a gathering of fan mobs, enabled by the internet, that connect and proselytize about the whys and wherefores of this sport of racing. Influential to the point of ‘not to be ignored.', California Chrome inspired something extra; loyalty that was emotional, deeply felt and in some cases, all-consuming. From my perspective, Junior took on the mantle of a prom king: formidable yet friendly. Accessible yet perfect…qualities of that high school boy named Tom.

Willie Delgado, his first exercise rider caught onto it when Junior first planted those white cupped hooves onto the dirt at Churchill Downs. Female fans. It can be tough to watch the works in the early morning. Horses come in different shades of gray, red and bay. Willie wore red leather chaps, and Alan Sherman’s daughter Brianne posted pictures of Junior’s track and daily barn activities on Facebook. That was a well-baited hook for social media mavens looking for fresh fodder to chew. More importantly, it was not the construct of a PR wizard. It was an evolution fed by visuals, Brianne Sherman’s pictures. Junior, Chrome’s baby barn name, was easy to pick out amidst the training horses plus he had a bearing, the controversial nose strips, and, a presence that trainers regard as ‘professional.' And because of the refreshing posture of the colt’s owners and their blatant recognition that they had just been spectacularly lucky, the Chrome story was accessible, sort of an ‘everyman’ tale of rags to riches. Looking back to that unfortunate Belmont interview, I wonder if caught in the same position as Mr. Coburn, I could be politically correct. My Momma, the Queen of ‘act pretty’ would have responded: ‘Young man, my horse just lost and I am a little on the mad side of the farm, but I like your tie.' Proctorville, North Carolina styled manners that suited most occasions. Momma could dress up a dig. She liked bourbon (Four Roses) as well. 

Just think about it. One mare purchase, one shrewd generational pedigree analysis, one subsequent breeding produced one spectacular colt, something akin to hitting an oil reserve under your house while checking on the plumbing pipes. The mind boggles with this type of dream score. Our racing industry is a bit like a dream factory anyway as that is how multi-layered partnerships are usually sold. The pinnacle event, the Kentucky Derby, is an aural circus, full of clinking cocktails, dress swishing, cash flashes and furious equine speed. For a new racing fan…it can be exciting as it is confounding. Media favorites come and go, yet for the past six years, a California chestnut and his connections have set the bar for gathering new fans to the sport of horseracing.

And so here at Gulfstream Park, the Chromies have arrived at the last dance for our king before he spreads his talent amongst some choice mares in the breeding shed at Taylor Made Farm in Nicholasville, Kentucky. Whatever the outcome with Junior’s first crop, it has been one heck of a ride with the future big Daddy C.

This race, the Pegasus World Cup, is truly Junior’s Prom. His Chromie court waits at the wire with his crown.

Jo-An’s California Kiss

1 part Vodka

2 parts champagne

Top with Pomegranate juice

Jo-An is the veteran bartender and hostess at the Silks and Parlay bars at Churchill Downs, scene of California Chrome’s ‘Run for the Roses’.

                     Title Cartoon provided by A.E. Sabo of Off The Pace