California Chrome ready for Saturday’s try at Triple Crown

California Chrome completed an uneventful workout Friday morning at Belmont Park in advance of Saturday’s run for the Triple Crown.

“If California Chrome is doing good, then I’m doing good,” assistant trainer Alan Sherman told a hefty crowd of media gathered in front of the horse’s barn. “We’ll leave it up to the racing gods. We’ve done all we can do.”

What Sherman and his father, Art, California Chrome’s trainer, have done is help to put the horse in position to be the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978.

The run in the Belmont Stakes, where California Chrome is a 3-5 favorite, will cap an unlikely journey.

Owners Steve Coburn and Perry Martin spent just $10,000 to breed the horse. California Chrome finished sixth in back-to-back races last year before capturing the King Glorious Stakes at Hollywood Park to start a six-race win streak that hasn’t ended.

After wins in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, the chance at history feels like a bonus to Sherman.

“Give me a clean trip,” he said of what he wants from California Chrome on Saturday. “That’s all.”