Nice video behind the scenes of Chrome's world.

[Dana666]

http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/videos/13288/california-chrome-assistant-trainer-alan-sherman

Everything about this horse and his team scream \"old-school.\"

Quite a debate between my head and my heart regarding his chances. My head says that giant negative 2 in the Preakness doesn\'t bode well, but, then again, I\'d love to see him do it. He\'s certainly proven durable and to run that many solid races one after another gives him some hope that he won\'t bounce too badly off of the Preakness effort.

Interestingly, I think he could have received h? notations for the Jan 25, March 8, and even the Derby. He couldn\'t have won those races any easier, so maybe that one huge effort doesn\'t knock him out?!

I hope Victor doesn\'t even think about sending him (there\'s been some talk about that!). Please let Tonalist go and stalk him. If Tonalist is that good that he goes wire to wire, then he earned it.

Ride on Curlin\'s sheet looks even more likely to forecast a bounce off his Preakness effort, and I don\'t really like Wicked Strong\'s pattern, though I suppose you could read that one in different ways--he bounced in the Derby off a huge Wood win, and now with rest does he come back to that number--his one and only number good enough to get within 10 lengths of Chrome--that\'s optimistic in my mind. I\'d like to see a few more competitive numbers.

Who\'s left? Commanding Curve can run all day, so I guess he\'s a possibility and Samarat has good figs, but he NEVER EVER struck me as distance type.

I guess General A-Rod could be a borderline contender with a return to his best efforts while Medal Count and Commissioner seem potentially talented but would need huge jump ups numbers-wise.

I think it\'s Chrome\'s race to win or lose, but so many other great horses have failed; I wouldn\'t be at all surprised if he too comes up short. Just a really tough thing to achieve.

Lastly,forget all that nasal strip nonsense, too. He made that huge jump-up in December because he had gotten off POLYTRACK! How many times have we seen poly mask brilliance in horses, then when they get to dirt or dirt-like surfaces, like the old cushion at Hollywood, they jump up? Too many times to count. That 7 1/2 at Del Mar was a superb effort, and he galloped out like a monster that day, giving every indication that he could and would go way faster later on down the line. The 12 1/2 at SA in the fall was a complete throwout. He was essentially eliminated from the race at the start and never got into any serious effort after that. Like I said, his sheet is old school and perfectly logical. The foundation is great and if EVER a horse deserved a Triple Crown by showing his complete and utter dominance over his peers, this one does. But hey that\'s why they run the race.

Good luck to everyone and enjoy one of the great undercards in racing history--wow what a line-up all capped off by a Triple Crown and 100+ screaming lunatics! More power to Chrome.