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– considered by many as the greatest California-bred to ever race. “I didn’t gallop him, but I got on him quite a few times,” Sherman said. He also got to sleep with him. Swaps shipped from California to Louisville for the Kentucky Derby by train. It took five days. Swaps was accompanied by five other horses in Tenney’s stable. “We had a car with six horses,” Sherman said. “Swaps had half the car to himself. He deserved it. I tried sleeping with the other horses, but all they’d do all night long was dip their heads into the water and get my sleeping bag wet.” So Sherman slept beside Swaps: “He was such a sweetheart.” On the track, he was a shark. He won 19 of 25 starts with two seconds and two thirds. “He had six world records at one time,” Sherman said. “Who does that?” Sherman began riding in Southern California before moving on to Florida and the Midwest. He returned to California in 1968 and rode until 1978, when he became an assistant trainer for Paul Guidotti. Sherman had a brief fling as a racing official in Northern California before taking out his trainer’s license there in 1980.
California Chrome and Victor Espinoza win the Grade 1 $1,000,000 Santa Anita Derby
He shifted his operation to Southern California in 2007, the same year he recorded his 2,000th win, with Oneanwin at Bay Meadows. Sherman’s son, Steve, took over his Northern California stable. Sherman’s other son, Alan, was a jockey who became and remains his dad’s assistant trainer. “Alan rode for Charlie Whittingham,” Sherman said.
“Then he got too big. So he stayed with me and became my assistant. Alan is my key man.” Now the Shermans have the favorite heading into the Kentucky Derby. California Chrome won two of his first six starts, then took his game to another level, winning a pair of Cal-bred stakes by daylight. When he added a 7¼-length romp in the Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes, California Chrome became the leading West Coast Kentucky Derby hope. His breathtaking 5¼-length victory in the Santa Anita Derby guaranteed that all being well, Sherman will be saddling the favorite for the Kentucky Derby. “He could always run, but he was green,” Sherman said. “A light bulb went off. It’s really hard to say why. When horses mature, they get confident. He thinks he’s a king now. The Santa Anita Derby was an awesome race. He’s a rock star. There were people chanting his name in the winner’s circle. I was awed. One guy showed me a tattoo of California Chrome right on his shoulder. He’s the people’s horse. I don’t know why.” Maybe it’s the guy that’s training him. Fiftynine years after Swaps, Sherman admitted this: “I’m still having fun.” n
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