California chrome defies breeding, wins Derby and Preakness

May 18, 2014 - The beauty of the racetrack is that the little guy has a chance against the big boys. There is no better example to date than California Chrome.

California Chrome is by a mare named Love the Chase, which the owners bought for a paltry US$8000. They later bred this mare to a stallion named Lucky Pulpit which cost them all of US$2000.

This is usually not the formula to breed a champion racehorse, yet California Chrome is defying those long odds.

He proved unbeatable in the Kentucky Derby and romped home in the Preakness.

One thing that California Chrome proves, is that bluebloods can be beat and that just because you spend a small fortune on a racehorse. That doesn't necessarily make him a champion.

It's the heart of the horse that makes him a champion. So in my book California Chrome is a horse that the little guy can root for.

If California Chrome wins the Belmont stakes, he will be the 1st horse to do so since Affirmed in 1978. He will also be one of the most unlikely winners of the Triple Crown.

But he will also become one of history's greatest racing stories.

by Kerry Zangara