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As I pulled into the parking lot at Los Alamitos Race Course on Friday morning, I thought about how light it was already, and how different that would be next week. With daylight saving time starting on Sunday morning, sunrise will be an hour later, making photography more challenging. But on this morning there was plenty of light and a solid contingent of regulars gathered inside the track kitchen, chatting and laughing as I walked in. I quickly caught up with trainer Art Sherman, who asked about my progress in packing for my move to Georgia and the arrival of...

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.

Moving up from seventh last month to fourth in the list this month is the three year old CALIFORNIA CHROME (USA) [124] who justified favoritism in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) in impressive style. Always prominent he sprinted away from the field from the top of the stretch and was winning so convincingly that his rider could start to celebrate well before the finish. California Chrome thus becomes the highest rated three year old in the LONGINES World’s Best Racehorse Rankings although he may have that position challenged as some of the major European Group 1 races...

Art Sherman, a career race tracker who rose to the pinnacle of the sport this past spring when he guided the mercurial colt California Chrome to the edge of racing immortality in a thrilling Triple Crown run, has been named the 2014 recipient of the Laffit Pincay, Jr. Award. Sherman will receive the award and its distinctive trophy Sunday, July 27, in winner’s circle ceremonies at Del Mar between the day’s fourth and fifth races. The Pincay Award, given annually for the past 10 years to those who have served the sport “with integrity, extraordinary dedication, determination and distinction,” will...

The longest wait in sports is not over. California Chrome's bid to become the first horse to win the Triple Crown since Affirmed in 1978 fell short in Saturday's Belmont Stakes. After winning both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes by a length and a half, the mile-and-a-half Belmont proved to be too much for Chrome, who finished fourth to winner Tonalist. And with that, the longest drought in Triple Crown history continues. Since Affirmed's sweep 36 years ago, 13 horses now have gone to Belmont Park with the Derby and Preakness in hand only to falter somehow, some way....

California Chrome is about to run in the Belmont Stakes, known as The Test Of The Champion.

ELMONT, N.Y. -- If you listen to horsemen during the Triple Crown chase year after year, they talk as if a special racehorse becomes a champion not only because of how fast he runs, but also because of who he is. So what makes California Chrome a special racehorse and a champion, instead of just a horse with a great backstory? Co-owner Steve Coburn, the Wilford Brimley lookalike in the 10-gallon hat, fingers the trait that all of Chrome's handlers cite: "It's been amazing to watch his personality develop and watch his mind develop." His mind? Really? Angel Cordero Jr.,...

California is hardly known as an epicenter of thoroughbred breeding. But on Saturday, the Belmont Stakes will include the first California-bred Triple Crown contender, leaving the actual industry leader, Kentucky, to pour another bourbon and dream of next year. Kentucky produces about one-third of all the registered thoroughbred foals in the U.S. according to the Jockey Club, the breed's registry. California accounts for about 8% of the foal crop and has struggled to stabilize its breeding industry since the 2008 recession. It makes California Chrome truly an odds-beater. "The story behind this horse is great for racing," said Clifford Barry,...

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT RUSH: So California Chrome, the horse that's gonna be running the Triple Crown. You're saying, "What? A horse? With everything going on out there?" Yeah, 'cause it's important, folks. You see, California Chrome was possibly violating the rules of horse racing by wearing Breathe Right nasal strips, a whole bunch of 'em, on the snout, or the snoot, the nose. And this, of course, allowed the horse to breathe more easily. Now American athletes in all sports use the Breathe Right nasal strips. I don't know if Breathe Right is the brand name, but it's the same principle....

Whew! That was a close call: another Drudge Headline (“America’s Horse”) that gave me heart palpitations. Fortunately they were talking about California Chrome. "He loves people," Coburn said of his colt. "He loves what he does, and that's why he's America's horse. In my opinion, this horse, what he's doing for two guys that work their butts off every day just to put beans and bacon on the table.This horse has given everybody else out there the incentive to say, 'You know what? We can do it too. We can do this also.'" Butt admit it, you were thinking it...

His competition can’t stop him, his cough didn’t slow him down but New York regulations could stop California Chrome’s Triple Crown bid. California Chrome wears a nasal strip and has since Dec. 22, when he started his current six race winning streak that includes victories in the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes. Currently, New York is the only racing state in the country that doesn’t allow it for thoroughbreds, but does for harness horses racing in New York. “These people (the owners) tell me if at any time the horse isn’t ready to go to the races don’t hesitate,”...

Steve Coburn’s insult to Churchill Downs’ hospitality is the latest in a series of complaints from different jockeys and owners. In the New York Times, Coburn’s wife explains how California Chrome’s co-owner Perry Martin’s 83-year-old mother didn’t receive good treatment from the facilities. “The hospitality we received at Churchill Downs wasn't very good," Coburn said. "It was a bad day for my partner and his family." The Martins drove her down from Michigan for the Derby and according to them; the Churchill staff didn’t help them get the elderly woman, who uses a wheelchair, to her seat or down to...

6:22 ET: The dream of a Triple Crown is still alive, after California Chrome held off Ride on Curlin to take Saturday's Preakness Stakes in an unofficial time of 1:54.84. After an excellent start, Chrome was content in third for the majority of the race until a late charge at the 3/4 mile saw him forge ahead. "It's an awesome feeling to be able to have a horse like California Chrome, he's just amazing," jockey Victor Espinoza said after the race. Espinoza improved his record to 6-0 on Chrome after holding off Social Inclusion and Ride on Curlin down the...