California Chrome has revved up his bid to become the 12th Triple Crown champion with a fast work-out at Belmont Park.
He was timed over six furlongs (1200m) in 1:12.8 seconds, the first four furlongs in 47.6s.
“I couldn’t ask for anything more. It was a perfect work,” Alan Sherman, the assistant and son of 77-year-old trainer Art Sherman, said after Saturday’s gallop.
The California-bred horse has captured the attention of racing and non-racing fans alike with his wins in the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness.
California Chrome will attempt to end the longest drought in Triple Crown history next Saturday in the arduous 1-1/2 mile (2400m) Belmont Stakes last won in 1978 by Affirmed.
The colt appeared to relish the crisp morning at Belmont and did not appear to be breathing heavily when his last major gallop was over.
He worked without his raceday blinkers because Sherman did not want him to go too fast.
“I’m confident in this horse and always have been,” Sherman said. “We’ve still got to run the race.”
Sherman said Chrome would have a day off before resuming his regimen of daily morning gallops at a pace he chooses and exercise rider Willie Delgado obliges.
Known for stopping on his way to the track to observe his surroundings, California Chrome tends to go at a leisurely pace for the opening mile before taking hold of the bit for another five-eighths of a mile or so.
Sherman said the team had done everything possible to have Chrome ready for the challenge of three races in five weeks.
“It’s up to the horse. I think the horse is good enough,” he said. “We will find out Saturday.”
Sherman didn’t appear concerned that the long-term forecast calls for rain.
“They all have to run on the same track,” he said. “If it rains, it rains.”
