Photo of California Chrome courtesy of Jeffrey Mallard

On Jan. 9, the 2015 Vox Populi Award ceremony will be held at Santa Anita. The resounding winner is American Pharoah, racing's newly crowned king. In 2014, the sport had rallied around California Chrome as the next likely Triple Crown winner following a 36-year-drought. Excitement ran rampant, and fans turned out in droves to watch a hero in the making. To our complete and utter euphoria, everything we had dreamed came true. There was a 12th Triple Crown winner, who also became a "Grand Slam" winner.

But ... it was to happen a year later, to a different horse. Through the vagaries of the racing gods, California Chrome's quest for immortality was denied. Instead, his Belmont was the dress rehearsal for the American Pharoah extravaganza which was to erupt a year later, shooting emotions skyward and rocking the Belmont grandstand like a seismic event. 

This Saturday, California Chrome is scheduled to resume his career in the San Pasqual Stakes following a nine-month absence. While American Pharoah is being honored, let's take a moment to remember the 3-year-old campaign of California Chrome, the exhilarating ride which he gave us in 2014, and the dreams he conjured of another shining chestnut which turned the racing world on its ear 43 years ago.

SECRETARIAT

Portrait by Jaime Corum, courtesy of Secretariat.com

In 2014, Secretariat and California Chrome shared a special link which spanned the chasm of the 1970s and the second decade of a new century. Not since the day when Secretariat's sunlit figure disappeared from center stage had a horse so fired the nation's imagination as his great-great-great grandson, California Chrome. For the dwindling numbers of those who had witnessed Secretariat's magnificence first-hand, California Chrome's quest for racing's most elusive hat trick represented a last chance to recapture time, if only for 2:24. For the younger crowd who had been weaned on the lore of Secretariat's greatness by parents and the press, the image of a white-stockinged chestnut blazing down Belmont's homestretch was so ingrained that they recognized a past in California Chrome's present which they had never experienced. 

In some ways, the two are not only years, but worlds apart. Secretariat was bred to the purple, the product of the best minds which the breeding industry could bring to bear. He was the fourteenth foal from the revered Somethingroyal, Broodmare of the Year in 1973, and dam of five stakes winners. Bold Ruler, Secretariat's sire, had competed in all three Triple Crown races, finishing fourth in the Kentucky Derby, winning the Preakness, and placing third in the Belmont. Inducted into racing's Hall of Fame in 1973, Bold Ruler sired 11 champions and two Hall of Famers, and was North America's leading stallion for seven straight years and eight years total.

Through a mixture of racing's most potent alchemy—luck and the fortuitous alignment of genetic stars—California Chrome's team realized a dream denied to many in their debut as breeders. California Chrome was the first foal out of Love the Chase, who had proved a disappointment to her racing partnership and was sold to the newly launched Dumb Ass Partners for $8,000. Lucky Pulpit, California Chrome's sire, had modest success as a racehorse, starting 22 times and registering three wins and five seconds. With sparse interest on the part of the Kentucky stud farms, he found a home at John Harris' place in dusty Coalinga, Calif., joining the stallion roster for a $2,500 fee. 

Secretariat was foaled on the historic grounds of The Meadow, seat of his owner's ancestors, nestled in the verdant undulations of the Virginia countryside. California Chrome was born at Harris Farms, where the softly creased faces of brown hills and mulberry trees shadowed the landscape. Had The Jockey Club decreed, Secretariat's name might have been Scepter, Royal Line, Something Special, Games of Chance, or Deo Volante. California Chrome's moniker was plucked from a hat by a waitress at Brewsters Bar and Grill in Galt, Calif. The losing contenders were Lucky at Love, Seabisquik, and Big Chapter. Secretariat represented the East Coast establishment and carried high expectations. California Chrome hailed from the California hinterland and was an unknown quantity. In 1973, a country besieged by internal strife and disillusion went looking for a safe place to put their dreams. They found it within the confines of Secretariat's enormous heart. In 2014, horse-racing itself was on the ropes, under attack from within and without. It had been relegated to the back burner of the public consciousness and the back pages of the media. Those stalwarts still passionate about the sport were searching for an uncorrupted hero on whom they could hook their hopes. They discovered him in the King Glorious Stakes at Hollywood Park on the last day of that dying racetrack's life.

CALIFORNIA CHROME

Portrait by Jaime Corum, courtesy of Secretariat.com 

Secretariat surveyed the scene through the classic blue-and-white checkered blinkers which became one of racing's iconic images, a symbol of The Meadow and its impeccable record of achievement. California Chrome's flashy purple headgear, embellished with the DAP logo, reflected the blue collar background and irreverent humor of his connections. Despite these differences, Secretariat and California Chrome share similarities that are more than skin deep, beginning with the heart, the "tremendous machine" that generates their courage, speed and stamina. According to The X Factor Book III by Marianna Haun, both are recipients of the X-factor, the "large heart gene" which they inherited from their maternal ancestors, tracing back to the Darley Arabian. As has been well-documented, Secretariat's heart at autopsy was estimated to weigh an astounding 22 pounds, more than double that of the average racehorse. 

Secretariat and California Chrome in full flight exhibit a symmetry of movement so exquisite in its execution that it is mesmerizing in its beauty. There is no greater evidence of this than in Secretariat's first race on the grass in the Man o' War Stakes and California Chrome's turf debut in the Hollywood Derby. No other Kentucky Derby winners in history had won a Grade I race on the grass during their 3-year-old season, but Secretariat and California Chrome did, displaying a spectacular affinity for the surface. It has been said that the grass brings out the poetry in a horse. If this is true, then his or her stride is the expression of that poetry. Haun's book states the Darley skeleton, which was passed to Secretariat and California Chrome through their early ancestor, accounts for the splendid flexibility of their strides. Secretariat's hindquarters worked in a powerful tight tuck-and-thrust motion that propelled him forward with a ferocious reach which devoured the real estate. It is in the fluidity of these long strides with a breath-taking hang time that California Chrome is most evocative of his great-great-great grandfather. His stride angle measures only 10 degrees less than that of Secretariat's, who owns one of the largest, if not the largest, on record, according to Somax Performing Institute. This perfect synchronization of movement and heart is so all-encompassing, our own hearts seem to stretch with the sheer beauty of it. 

SECRETARIAT TRAINING FOR THE GOTHAM STAKES   

Photo by Bob Coglianese, courtesy of Secretariat.com

CALIFORNIA CHROME TRAINING FOR THE DUBAI WORLD CUP

Photo courtesy of Jeffrey Mallard

SECRETARIAT TAKES FLIGHT IN THE PREAKNESS STAKES 

Photo by Raymond G. Woolfe, Jr., © The Daily Racing Form

CALIFORNIA CHROME MAKES A SWOOPING MOVE PREPARING FOR THE SAN PASQUAL STAKES

Photo courtesy of Gary Tasich

Perhaps the strongest link between them is found in what cannot be seen. Secretariat and California Chrome were endowed with that mystical quality which defies description, a random and rarely granted gift from the gods. Greatness does not guarantee it, nor can it be inherited. Charisma, magic, the "it" factor, whatever one chooses to name it, it is immediately recognized and inspires lasting love on the part of the beholder. The historic import of the final leg of the Triple Crown aside, it is what brought thousands of enthralled souls to Belmont in June of 1973 and 2014. The fact that Secretariat and California Chrome could fill that monolithic grandstand with the enormity of their presence says more about who and what they are, and what they knew themselves to be, than can ever be written.

Yes, California Chrome was denied the Triple Crown. But like Secretariat, he won the champion 3-year-old and Horse of the Year awards. He also won the Secretariat Vox Populi Award and our hearts, as well as the enthusiastic support of one Penny Chenery. In him we saw the glimmerings of a big red horse with a Pegasean stride and heard the echoes of an immense heart which will never be stilled.