Stakes start considered for Faversham, California Chrome's brother

Faversham, a full brother to two-time Horse of the Year California Chrome, broke his maiden impressively Thursday, winning at one on mile turf by 3 ¼ lengths under Tiago Pereira.

It was the sixth career start for the 3-year-old chestnut ridgling trained by Art Sherman, who made a rider change and removed blinkers for the race.

“He was a big overlay, but he had bad experiences in his last two races (beaten a combined margin of 26 ½ lengths),” Sherman said by phone Friday morning. “He didn’t have a clear path to run. He’d been training well and I took the blinkers off.

“I think he’ll get better as he gets older. He hasn’t realized his potential yet and he’s a Cal-bred, so that gives us lots of options. There’s a possibility he could run in the Oceanside at Del Mar," which is a one-mile grass race on opening day, July 18.

Asked if any money was gleaned other than the $35,400 winner’s share, Sherman said, “I bet on him the last two times he ran, but not yesterday. I didn’t want to jinx him.”