Alan Sherman looks at you and smiles. While he is talking with you, he doesn’t miss a single detail around him, especially about California Chrome. You don’t realize how observant he is because he is a master at multitasking. If anyone from the Sherman Racing Stables has a need, he notices it immediately. What is interesting to watch is the nonverbal communication between everyone at the barn. They are so dialed into each other that often they do not need to talk. There is a look. A glance between a son and his dad. The look between a trainer and his assistant. A look of respect. A look of appreciation. As simple as a nod. A recognition of understanding. Sometimes the look is shorthand for “I’ve got this.” Sometimes it is significant eye contact that means “I will handle this.” And there is always the common bond of laughter. You know you are at California Chrome’s barn when you hear laughter. 

Alan said it’s hard to remember his first memory of horses because he used to go to the track as a kid with his dad, who is Art Sherman. Art said that Alan “had an attachment to horses at a very early age. I used to put him on the stable pony and let him walk around. He was a natural about being around the horses. I remember going to the barn and I’d look around wondering where he was.” Art would find him in a stall lying down asleep and he’d have his head right next to the sleeping horse. It used to horrify Art.  “That horse might roll on him but there is something about kids that they don’t do that.”  

Alan Sherman with California Chrome. (Julie June Stewart photo)

Alan always loved horses and as a kid he was right there helping out in the barn. Art says that both of his boys were athletic and excelled in sports such as baseball and basketball. There was no competition between Alan and his older brother, Steve. “He is 5 ½ years older than me, so I always looked up to him.  We never really hung out growing up, due to age difference. Actually, we are closer now than we have been!” Alan’s brother, Steve, is also a trainer in Northern California.

He grew up around the barns. Not many of his friends at school were into horses but he had track friends. “We were rug rats running around the barn. Never involved the police but probably should have!” One time a kid he grew up with had just received his driver’s license. The way Alan’s eyes lit up under his baseball hat, you knew that this was going to be a good story. “We thought it would be a good idea to go on the training track at Bay Meadows and run around the track in the car for a few laps. The track officials? They never caught us! They didn’t know who did it!” This set off an ocean of laughter. 

When Art heard this story he wasn’t surprised. He laughed. “Did you know that Alan is also an outdoorsman and loves hunting and fishing? What about the time they went fishing and we had to get the Coast Guard to find them? They got marooned out in the bay! Well, that figures. We had a lot of good times. He was great as a teenager. Both him and his brother. They demolished more cars on me with my insurance paying for them. They thought they were hot rodders.” 

At 16, Alan knew that he wanted to be a jockey. He was small growing up and weighed 100 pounds.  Alan grins from ear to ear at the memory. He puts his hands together; closes his eyes part way and relives the memory. Then he smiles. As a jockey, he rode his first horse named “Woody’s Boy” at 17. “He was great. He ran perfect. He ran straight. Didn’t get into anybody’s way. Rode for three years. Won about 20 races for [Charlie] Whittingham. That was nice. To be able as a kid to be around him. I exercised for him and rode Ferdinand. It was awesome. He was such a cool horse. I also rode a filly named Goodbye Halo. She was a good filly. Sunday Silence was tough. Flawlessly was a doll.  She was so nice. She was the best. She was just the best.” Alan was being modest. The jockey records for him from 1986 to 1989 show that he had almost 1,000 starts with earnings of more than a million dollars.

Did Alan imagine winning the Kentucky Derby as a jockey? His answer sprang out of him like a horse leaving the gate. “When I was growing up, I always wanted to be a jockey. I thought I would win four or five of them! I thought it would be easy.” He laughs now at the thought of this. He wasn’t cocky but simply confident that his dreams would be successful. He grew out of his dreams as a jockey and turned his love of horses to training. 

Alan loved working for Charlie Whittingham and remembers that he was an amazing trainer. “I’ve never seen anyone get a horse ready like he could for a big race. He was an old school trainer. He would get to the barn at 4 in the morning and go over everything. He knew every horse and what he wanted to do with them.” He said that Willie Shoemaker would come by the barn all the time and that it was an amazing experience as a young teenager. The experience he gained with Charlie Whittingham, Willie Shoemaker and his dad gave him the foundation for today. Alan started working for his dad in 1991.

What would have Charlie Whittingham thought of California Chrome? “He would have loved Chrome because it’s his kind of horse. He tries and he’s so fun to be around him. He’s got an aura around him.  He’s got a great personality. He just loves what he is does. I’ve never been around a horse that loves to train. He can’t wait to get out there in the morning. He loves to run and makes my job easy.”

The Shermans have had California Chrome throughout his entire career. He arrived at their barn in February of 2013. Alan thought he was a little immature and said it was amazing to see him blossom. If you want to hear Alan’s voice change; bring up the Santa Anita Derby in 2014. He suddenly stands taller and glows with the memory. “The Santa Anita Derby was an amazing race! That was our first million-dollar race we had ever won and it was very special. I think that was the first race when we realized we had something special was the King Glorious Stakes at Hollywood Park. That’s when I got Derby fever. Oh, boy! Here we go!”

Having a horse on the Triple Crown trail meant that their barn was the focus of lots of media attention. It also meant that Alan was also thrown into the spotlight. Everybody wanted information: daily press conferences, video interviews, non-stop cell phone calls, thousands of e-mails to handle and functions to attend. Long hours with the days hurtling by. Expectations increased along with the crowds 

Alan Sherman with media at 2014 Belmont Stakes. (Julie June Stewart photo)

Alan remembers California Chrome’s Triple Crown journey as awesome. “It wasn’t too bad for the Derby and the Preakness but when the Belmont came around and you are trying to win the Triple Crown.” He stopped and took a big breath. “It was starting to get a little nerve wracking. At that time, there wasn’t a Triple Crown winner. Everyone was hoping.” The rest was left unsaid. Chrome was not the next Triple Crown winner. The barn carried the burden of the hopes and dreams of many. It that ended that day in New York.

Fast forward to Alan’s first trip to Dubai for the Dubai World Cup. “I was like a deer in headlights. I didn’t know what to expect. It wasn’t anything like I expected. I learned a whole lot going there the first year. That is why we went early the second year. If you are going to go to try to win that race; I think that is the way to do it. Give your horse time to acclimate and run a prep race. We were there for 10 weeks.” It certainly paid off. California Chrome may not have won the first time he was in Dubai but he won the Dubai World Cup with dramatic style in 2016.

What skills does one need to survive a career in horse racing? Alan provided an instant answer without hesitation. “Horsemanship! Horsemanship will always rise to the top. If you treat your horses right; you treat your people right around the horses. They can feel the tension. You’ve got to treat people like you want to be treated and then they put that into the horse. You’ve got to get along with people. Then once you get in the game, the more you are in it, the more you learn. I never stop learning. They are animals and you’ve got to treat them as individuals. They are not machines. You can’t treat them all the same. You learn that as you go along.”

How has California Chrome changed his life? Alan starts to talk and stops. Then he proceeds with another slow drawn out “Ohhhhh” as he gathers his thoughts. It’s silent as he pauses and starts slowly.  “Unbelievable. I can’t even begin to explain how he changed our life. We’ve done good. My dad has won over 2,300 races. That is a lot of races. But to be in the spotlight of the next level like Chrome has. It’s kind of a shock at first. The media, the fans and all the Chromies.” 

It is unusual to see a father/son team working with such synchronicity. Art says that Alan knows what his pattern is. “He knows how we run our barn and I have a lot of confidence in him. After all these years, they grow up and you look back and say, ‘Wow!’ I never thought I would have both sons in the business. It’s great! My other son, Steve, will be here for the big race and I am looking forward to all of us getting together. We are having a lot of fun. That’s what it’s all about. They have always been close to me and it’s been great!” And this love of family is continued. Alan beams with love and pride as he talks about his daughter, Brianne, and his grandson, Logan. “Of course, I have put Logan on a pony! He is a natural and already loves the horses.” 

Alan Sherman laughing. (Julie June Stewart photo)

One of Alan’s greatest assets is his laugh. It suits his affable personality and draws you to him. Alan uses his hands expressively and often brings them together when he is making a point or a decision. He is a quick decision maker. Art says that he can walk down the grandstand and know where Alan is because he can hear him. With a huge, proud grin of a dad who loves his son, Art says, “Well, that’s Alan!  When he laughs, it is from the bottom of his feet. It’s the kind of laugh that just comes up.”

Sunday morning will be emotional as the barn bids goodbye to California Chrome. When you mention it to Alan there is a change in his voice. He gets quiet, looks at the ground and puts his hands together. He says, “It’s tough.” He pauses and struggles to get his thoughts together. “I think it’s going to be very emotional.” He pulled himself together as the consummate horseman who has watched thousands of horses pass through barns during his career.

Some days it’s a really long walk back to the barn from the track. On other days there is a bounce in your step, especially after a visit to the winner’s circle. Sometimes a very special horse can come along and a hard-working man like Alan will find himself in front of a camera describing their routine day after day. He is grateful. He looks in the distance and says it has been amazing to grow up in this game. Only this time he doesn’t laugh. He stands firmly based and puts his hands together. There is a well-earned look of satisfaction on his face as he stares at California Chrome. “It’s been an unbelievable ride with this horse.  It’s been quite a ride.” Alan Sherman might have dreamed of winning the Kentucky Derby as a young jockey. He didn’t know that every time he mounted a horse that he was getting ready for the next horse, the next ride, and the next step in life. There are many ways to achieve one’s dreams and he found a way to share his dreams with his friends and family. When you can laugh like Alan, you can share your success and love of life with all around you.