Trainer Ron Ellis Praises California Chrome
Trainer Ron Ellis is among the growing list of horsemen who has been won over by California Chrome. The 53-year-old Glendale native had his reservations about the upstart California-bred until he won the May 3 Kentucky Derby at a mile and a quarter and then enhanced that performance with a similar triumph in last Saturday’s Preakness Stakes.
Next up: the Test of Champions, the mile and a half Belmont Stakes on June 7, when California Chrome will seek to become racing’s first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978.
“He surprised me that he could get the mile and a quarter so I didn’t think the Preakness distance (a mile and three-sixteenths) would be any problem,” Ellis said. “There’s a question about a mile and a half.
“Pedigree-wise it really doesn’t seem like he can go that far, but he seems to be breaking all the rules, with his pedigree (Lucky Pulpit-Love the Chase, a sire who never won beyond 5 ½ furlongs and a dam who won only one race. The breeding cost $2,500, pocket change by today’s standards). It’s a great story, kind of rags-to-riches in that a good horse like that can come from anywhere.
“Any horse that gets sent to you as a trainer could have been a horse like him, just a little homebred who turns out to be California Chrome. He’s a tremendously gifted athlete who seems to be breaking all the rules.”
Asked about Seeking the Sherif, his bargain $12,500 claim on Dec. 28 who won his third race in row last Friday, a $60,000, second-condition allowance test, Ellis said, “One of the owners (Steve Zolatos) called me about him,” Ellis said. The group also includes Tim Goodwin and Sabina Romo-Zolatas.
“He asked me what I thought and I told him he’s obviously got a spotty record. He was off for a year and a half and then he was off another nine months.
“But I said, ‘Gary Mandella’s a good trainer, and if he’s running him he can’t be all that bad, so it’s worth giving it a shot. But I said don’t be surprised if we have to give him away the next day.’ We rolled the dice and it’s turned out well so far.”