After watching the Pegasus World Cup, one can only think, Le roi est mort, vive le roi! Fortunately, in this case, only the king's racing career is dead, as California Chrome's storybook career finished in race too bad to be true. Post-race reports indicate a minor injury to his right knee, and he will still get his happy ending as he goes off to stud.
In a race eerily reminiscent of the 1995 Donn Handicap (USA-I), in which reigning American Horse of the Year Holy Bull suffered a career-ending injury as future champion Cigar sped on to victory, California Chrome's career ended as last year's champion 3-year-old male Arrogate assumed an unquestioned title as the best North American runner in training. What might have happened had Chrome been able to fire his best shot may be debated for years to come, but the fact remains that Arrogate simply dominated as good a field of older runners as ever gets assembled during the winter racing season. With California Chrome now out of the picture, there simply doesn't seem to be anything around even capable of giving the big gray a good workout, and the frightening thing for potential rivals is that he has not yet finished growing and developing.
Whether Arrogate will emulate Cigar in going on to become the next American Horse of the Year remains to be seen, but at this point, the only thing that may stand in his way is himself. If he can remain sound, who knows how high he may soar?
In a race eerily reminiscent of the 1995 Donn Handicap (USA-I), in which reigning American Horse of the Year Holy Bull suffered a career-ending injury as future champion Cigar sped on to victory, California Chrome's career ended as last year's champion 3-year-old male Arrogate assumed an unquestioned title as the best North American runner in training. What might have happened had Chrome been able to fire his best shot may be debated for years to come, but the fact remains that Arrogate simply dominated as good a field of older runners as ever gets assembled during the winter racing season. With California Chrome now out of the picture, there simply doesn't seem to be anything around even capable of giving the big gray a good workout, and the frightening thing for potential rivals is that he has not yet finished growing and developing.
Whether Arrogate will emulate Cigar in going on to become the next American Horse of the Year remains to be seen, but at this point, the only thing that may stand in his way is himself. If he can remain sound, who knows how high he may soar?
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