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Horse racing’s biggest star, California Chrome, to race at Philly track

Some are already calling it the biggest day in the history of Pennsylvania horse racing.

Some are already calling it the biggest day in the history of Pennsylvania horse racing.

California Chrome, who won this year's Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, will run Sept. 20 in the $1 million Pennsylvania Derby at Parx in suburban Philadelphia.

It's the first time the Bensalem track has ever hosted a winner of the Kentucky Derby. And it's the first race for the chiseled, chestnut-colored thoroughbred following his disappointing showing at Belmont Stakes, where he lost his bid to become the sport's 13th Triple Crown winner.

Organizers expect the track to attract a record number of spectators and a record amount of money to be bet on the day's races. The $1 million Cotillion Stakes will also be run the same day at Parx.

The timing is perfect for California Chrome's return to racing after a six-week vacation in the Golden State, said the horse's co-owner Steve Coburn this week from his home in Nevada.

"It literally fell right in our laps," the gregarious factory worker said. "It was halfway between the training and the Breeder's Cup. And then there was the incentive."

And a sweet incentive it is. For just coming out of the starting gate, California Chrome will earn Coburn and his partner Perry Martin a $200,000 bonus. Potential one-day earnings: $800,000 if Chrome is victorious.

"If he's ready, we'd be idiots not to do it. But if he's not ready, we'd be idiots to do it," Coburn said. "He's ready."

The bonus system was created at Parx in 2011 to attract winners of any of the Triple Crown races, the Haskell at Monmouth, or the Travers at Saratoga, track officials said.

A portly machinist who still hasn't quit his day job, Coburn said he's thrilled to be making the trek to Parx.

"That's where Smarty Jones got his start," Coburn said. "California Chrome has a lot in common with him. He's got try, he's got heart, and he loves to run."

Chrome, however, also has an owner who doesn't like to lose.

Following the horse's lackluster showing at Belmont, Coburn delivered a blustery tirade to an NBC reporter lambasting the competition, calling other owners "cowards" for not running their horses in the first two races of the Triple Crown. He later apologized. It's an outburst he said he wants to put behind him.

From 'dumb ass' to champion to Pennsylvania Derby

California Chrome's fairy-tale run to the victory circle had an unlikely beginning. Coburn was part of a syndicate that had invested in a mare, Love the Chase. It was Coburn's first horse-racing venture. Love the Chase won exactly one race for the group.

"She wasn't very good," Coburn said. "Everyone wanted out."

Coburn and Martin bought the mare from the other syndicate members for a mere $8,000. A groom in the stable said anyone willing to buy Love the Chase was a "dumb ass." Coburn and Martin took the epithet gladly and officially branded themselves Dumb Ass Partners.

For an extra $2,000, they mated Love the Chase with the stallion Lucky Pulpit.

"She just didn't want to be a racehorse," he said. "But she became the very best mother in the world."

Before the future champion was born, Coburn said he had a vision.

"I had a dream about him. A dream about a chestnut colt with a white blaze on his face. I turned to my wife and told her about it," Coburn said. "When we went to see him for the first time my wife said, 'Steven, come here. There's your dream!'

"I knew he was going to do something special. Something big."

'The people's horse'

The colt, which Coburn's wife initially dubbed Junior, was rechristened when the co-owners literally drew his name from a hat. California for the state he was foaled in, Chrome for the white blaze on his face.

Coburn's dream quickly became a reality. The horse was recognized as unusually smart, serenely poised, and able to run "straight as a rifle shot."

Chrome won his second race out, then rocketed to win the Graduation Stakes at Del Mar. As he racked up the victories, he became a populist favorite.

"He's the people's horse," Coburn said. "He loves people, the roar of the crowd."

As he worked out last weekend in California, the thoroughbred basked in the adulation of his fans who packed the stands to the rafters, Coburn said.

Children send the thoroughbred posters and postcards.

"Rock stars got groupies; we got Chromies," he said.

One of the Chromies was a terminally ill woman in her 80s, Coburn said. One of her wishes was to meet California Chrome before she died. The woman was escorted to his barn and spent 20 minutes patting the champion.

"As they were taking her out to the car, she said, 'I can die a happy woman now.' That's the influence this horse has had on people. He's everybody's light at the end of the tunnel."

California Chrome will fly east next week to prepare for the Pennsylvania Derby. The horse, which put on 60 pounds during his break, has turned that weight into muscle, Coburn said. As of Wednesday, Coburn said didn't know which other horses would be in the running.

"He's going to be the favorite. I don't make odds on that," he said. "But he went off as a big favorite in the Belmont and looked what happened.

"I just hope Parx enjoys this horse as much as we have. I hope it's a bang-up day for the park."