California Chrome, Bayern clock half-mile moves

"I think it will help," Art Sherman said of the grass victory,

coming after California Chrome's game third-place finish by a neck in the

Breeders' Cup Classic on November 1. "The turf win adds another dimension and

gives us options down the road. There haven't been too many three-year-olds

running on the grass, and it was his fourth Grade 1."

True enough, but with Classic scorer Bayern, Breeders' Cup

Turf victor Main Sequence, once-beaten Pacific Classic and Awesome Again hero

Shared Belief, Belmont Stakes and Jockey Club Gold Cup conqueror Tonalist, and Kentucky Oaks and Breeders' Cup Distaff queen

Untapable all in the mix for racing's ultimate honor, it's anyone's guess until

January 17.

"It's going to be close this year," Sherman acknowledged. "I'm

sure California Chrome will at least get three-year-old of the year, but then again,

you don't really know. A lot depends on how the Eastern bloc votes.

"If it depended on the California vote, I'd win in a landslide. He won the

Santa Anita Derby, the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness, three classic races. It

used to be that if you won the Derby and the Preakness, it was automatic that

you'd be three-year-old of the year.

"Now it's kind of up for grabs, but hey, listen, I know one award I'll win:

that's Cal-bred of the Year," Sherman laughed.

Awards aside, racing stands to benefit thanks to

owners/breeders Steve Colburn and Perry Martin's decision to race California

Chrome next year as a four-year-old.

"If he'd have won the Breeders' Cup Classic, we wouldn't

even be having a conversation about who's going to be Horse of the Year,"

Sherman said, "but he was a neck short.

"Still, it's been a great year and I'm so proud of the horse. He's done

everything he could under the circumstances. He's going to be a great

four-year-old. I'm looking forward to that."

California Chrome wasn't the only Horse of the Year candidate stretching his

legs on Friday.

Bayern worked four furlongs

on Santa Anita's fast main track in a co-bullet :46 1/5 under jockey Martin

Garcia for trainer Bob Baffer.

Working in company with Pearl Spectre, who was timed in

:46 2/5, Bayern's clocking equaled that of the Richard Baltas-trained Brother

Soldier. The duo's time was fastest of 43 at the distance, the average of which was

:48 2/5.

"This is his second breeze back," Baffert said of the

Kentucky-bred son of Offlee Wild. "He did it pretty easy. I didn't think he was

going that fast. It looked like he was galloping. I just told him to cruise

around there but he did it pretty easy."

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