Triple Crown Hopeful California Chrome Preparing For Belmont Stakes
ELMONT, N.Y. (WJZ) -- Getting ready for the big race. Triple Crown hopeful California Chrome is preparing for the biggest race of his life.
Mark Viviano has more on how trainers are preparing Chrome for the Belmont Stakes.
California Chrome paused for pictures. And then, horse racing's latest superstar took an early morning jog around the Belmont Track. The three-year-old colt is just a day away from the biggest race of his life—the final leg of the Triple Crown.
"It's my Cinderella story," said co-owner Steve Coburn.
Coburn bred his horse for a bargain $10,000 and watched him win the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness with jockey Victor Espinoza. If California Chrome wins at Belmont, he will be the first Triple Crown champion since Affirmed in 1978.
Coburn has strict instructions from trainer Art Sherman—to be at Saturday's race in exactly the same hat and boots.
"He says don't change nothing. So I'll be wearing the same outfit I wore at the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes, and I'll be wearing it at the Belmont Stakes," said Coburn,
A California Chrome victory would be a win for both the horse and the sport.
"He's probably going to attract some people who might have been on the fence about coming out to the race track to come out to the race track, and that's great," said Mike Watchmaker, national handicapper, Daily Racing Form.
Belmont is expecting more than 100,000 fans Saturday to cheer California Chrome across the finish line.
Just how rare is a Triple Crown? More people have walked on the moon than horses have won the coveted title.
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