California Chrome’s quest gives Coburns taste of celebrity life

ELMONT, N.Y. — He has become the poster child for the regular guy, a man of modest means who struck the equine mother lode with a $10,500 investment he and his partner made three years ago that is now worth millions.

Steve Coburn has already had his 15 minutes of fame. On Saturday, the 61-year-old from Topaz Lake with the bushy mustache and cowboy hat could stretch his celebrity into immortality if his 3-year-old star colt, California Chrome, wins the Belmont Stakes and completes the Triple Crown, a feat no horse has accomplished in thoroughbred racing since 1978.

California Chrome is the 3-5 morning-line favorite in the 1½-mile race and will start from the No. 2 post in the field of 11.

“Yeah, it’s been a tremendous ride,” Coburn said Wednesday. “And it’s all because of this horse and our trainer and his son, the assistant trainer and the jockey and especially the groomer. He takes pretty darned good care of this horse.”

Coburn and his wife, Carolyn, and their business partner, Perry Martin of Yuba City, Calif., have found themselves the subject of the media’s attention. Martin lets Coburn do the talking, and Coburn has had plenty to say. Except for Sunday, when he was unwilling to spend a few minutes with a reporter on the phone, saying he was not feeling well.

But he made it to New York and has been enjoying A-level celebrity status all week. On Thursday, he was on Wall Street to help ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange.

On Saturday, he and Martin will have red-carpet treatment at Belmont Park amid the 110,000 or so expected to turn out to watch history attempted to be made yet again. (Eleven horses have failed to win the Triple Crown since Affirmed won it in 1978.)

“It’s been terribly exciting,” said Coburn, one of 13 employees who works at a manufacturing plant in Gardnerville that makes magnetic strips for credit cards, drivers licenses and hotel keys. “To watch this little guy grow up and watch him develop and watch his personality develop and just watch his mind develop. He’s an amazing animal. He really, really is.

“I wish every horse owner out there could have a horse like this, because he’s like one in a bazillion. This horse could have been born to anybody. He was born to us, and we’re very blessed with that.”

With California Chrome’s success comes confidence from his owner, and Coburn remains steadfast in his belief that about 3:55 p.m. Saturday he will be heading to the winners’ circle.

“There’s no doubt in my mind this horse will win the Triple Crown,” he said. “His work last Saturday shows me this horse is happy, he is healthy, he is gaining weight and putting on muscle.”

California Chrome’s final tuneup produced a half-mile in 47.69 seconds and 59.93 seconds for five furlongs. He also ran three-quarters of a mile in 1:12.95.

Art Sherman, the 77-year-old trainer who has handled the horse to perfection on the Triple Crown trail, said he couldn’t be happier after California Chrome stretched his legs out Thursday morning with a gallop over a sloppy Belmont track.

“He’s doing great,” Sherman said. “I’m really happy with the way he’s going now.”

Coburn has told the story that when California Chrome was just a day out of the womb, he thought he was looking at a champion someday.

“I told my wife, Carolyn, this horse is going to do something big,” he said. “I don’t know what it is, but we’re going to stay in the game to make sure this colt gets to be the best that he can be.”

And even though California Chrome isn’t regally bred — his mother is Love the Chase and his father Lucky Pulpit — he has outrun his pedigree. And now, he can put himself alongside the sport’s greatest, including Secretariat, by winning the Belmont and becoming the 12th Triple Crown winner.

It appears he has the entire nation rooting for him, save the owners of the other 10 horses. Even Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval has been tweeting about California Chrome’s success.

“He’s America’s Horse because we’ve got the entire country, if not the entire world, behind us,” Coburn said. “We just hope and pray that everybody gets a clean break, every horse has a safe trip and everybody gets home clean and let the chips fall where they may.”

Contact reporter Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow him on Twitter: @stevecarprj.