Art Sherman, racing's David who slew the game's Goliaths with an unlikely slingshot named California Chrome, will be honored by Santa Anita Sunday on the occasion of his retirement at 84 after a career as a jockey and trainer spanning six decades.
Sherman left the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn when he was seven years old, later fleecing contemporaries in the jocks' room playing gin rummy at old Jamaica Race Course in the late 1950s as the standby rider on the New York circuit, and later still becoming a successful trainer, winning 2,261 races.
In either case, it's been a wild ride.
“There are some things Faye (his wife approaching 60 years) and I want to do, and right now I'm closing down my barn (at Los Alamitos) where I've got a lot of tack and the kids are coming for the holidays,” Sherman said when asked his immediate plans now that the reality of retirement has taken hold.
“I just sold my place in Cypress (near Los Alamitos, Sherman's training headquarters and home of California Chrome during his glory years), so I'm moving out of there. I've got a lot of things on the agenda right now.”
One that fortunately is not, thankfully, is his health.
Sherman, who turns 85 next Feb. 17, had surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from his bladder in March 2019 but is now cancer-free.
“That issue is behind me,” he said, “so that's great.
“I don't know what more I can say about California Chrome. Everything's been written about him. I was on two radio shows recently, one in Kentucky, TVG did a nice piece on me that will be aired before long and (Los Alamitos owner Ed) Doc Allred threw a catered party for me attended by about 100 people.”
Sherman saddled his last horse Dec. 10 at Los Alamitos, 9-1 shot Alchemy finishing seventh under jockey Wayne Barnett, but win or lose, Sherman maintains a level head, a trait which has helped him succeed on a long and daunting road and established him as one of game's most revered ambassadors.
“Art is a great guy who follows the Shoemaker model,” said Brian Beach, former agent for Victor Espinoza who rode California Chrome to victories in the 2014 Kentucky Derby and through 2016 when he won his second Horse of the Year title.
“He doesn't get too high on the highs and too low on the lows, and we had a couple major losses, losing the Belmont in pursuit of the Triple Crown and losing the Breeders' Cup Classic.
“Art was always the same. He never blamed Victor, was easy to deal with and a straight shooter. He's just a lovely man.”
Recalled Sherman: “I've met a lot of nice people all over the world, meeting all the foreign owners and trainers in Dubai, was next to the Queen at Royal Ascot. These are things you will always remember.
“Chrome stands in Japan (at Arrow Stud, 2021 fee for live foal was $36,000) and I've been invited to see him, although this is a bad time to travel.
“Maybe we can go next year if things loosen up a bit, but right now it's a real hassle to travel abroad.”
California Chrome turns 11 on Jan. 1. He won 16 of 27 starts earning $14,752,650 and was viscerally the most popular horse of his generation. Hard to fathom now, but “The People's Horse” is largely credited for luring 72,811 fans to see him run in the Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita on Nov. 5, 2016.
“Things are coming to an end,” Art mused. “We've seen all the best of this game, all the great horses that ran at Santa Anita when I was young, but racing is different now.”
Sherman developed California Chrome into a masterpiece of form and function achieving international success and acclaim, contributing mightily to positive exposure the game sorely needs, and it paid off for him.
And for racing.
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