ARLINGTON HEIGHTS, Ill. (AP) California Chrome, who won the 2014 Kentucky Derby and went on to earn Horse of the Year honors, has a bruised cannon bone that will force him out of the Arlington Million and likely sideline him for the rest of the year.
Trainer Art Sherman said Sunday on Twitter that X-rays revealed the injured bone that extends from the knee to the fetlock a day earlier.
California Chrome has been at Arlington Park outside Chicago since Tuesday, when he arrived back in the U.S. from England. He was scheduled to run in the Arlington Million on Aug. 15.
Sherman says the injury isn’t life-threatening and the horse should be fine.
California Chrome hasn’t raced since a second-place finish in the $10 million Dubai World Cup on March 28. After that he was sent to England and was scheduled to run twice there, but he never did. He developed a reported foot bruise while at Newmarket.
Sherman told the Daily Racing Form that the cannon bone bruise was found when California Chrome underwent thorough X-rays while being checked out for a possible sale to breeders. Perry Martin is majority owner and breeder of the colt, along with Steve Coburn.
California Chrome added the Preakness to his Derby win last year, but his Triple Crown bid was derailed in the Belmont, when he tied for fourth.
