Every so often, a Thoroughbred racehorse elevates above the tried-and-true, everyday fan-o-sphere of the sport and captures the national consciousness. Secretariat is the gold standard, of course. Followed soon by Seattle Slew, Affirmed, and Spectacular Bid in three consecutive years. Advance to Sunday Silence in 1989. Then Cigar in the mid-90s. Funny Cide and Smarty Jones in another back-to-back sequence two decades ago. Beloved Barbaro in 2006. Then Rachel Alexandra and “Queen” Zenyatta three/four years later when fillies stole the spotlight.

And then California Chrome in 2014. The chestnut colt’s rise to stardom was truly an “out of nowhere” phenomenon, and it happened at exactly the right time, when social media took over American culture to become the main driver of popularity.

After competing mainly against fellow California-breds during his juvenile season in 2013 and early into his 3-year-old campaign, California Chrome stepped into the big leagues with a pulverizing 7 ¼-length win in the San Felipe Stakes followed by an even more impressive 5 ¼-length score in the Santa Anita Derby … and then the bar was raised. A colt who had been destined to be remembered mainly as the winner of the final stakes race at Hollywood Park before it closed (the King Glorious Stakes on Dec. 22, 2013) was now, suddenly, one of the favorites for the 140^th Kentucky Derby.

Art Sherman at the Kentucky Derby draw. (Eclipse Sportswire)

Chrome’s backstory was unbelievably appealing. He was bred by owners Perry Martin and Steve Coburn, small business owners in Northern California who raced as – you can’t make it up – Dumb Ass Partners. The pair bought the mare Love the Chase for $8,000 and bred her to area stallion Lucky Pulpit for another two grand, and named the foal California Chrome after the white flash marking on his face. Martin and Coburn may have not been ready for the whirlwind of Triple Crown season, but their horse brought them there anyway, and as it turned out, their curmudgeonly demeanors (Martin taciturn, Coburn gregarious) fit the “little guy” narrative perfectly. And 77-year Art Sherman, who had been one of the most accomplished horsemen on the California circuit for decades, was a central-casting coup as Chrome’s trainer.

Sherman was the kind of guy who had seen it all over the years, starting back when he was a teenage exercise rider for 1955 Derby winner and Hall of Fame racehorse Swaps, California Chrome’s distant relative. Sherman and his team, including his son Alan and regular jockey Victor Espinoza, exuded positive vibes and confidence about Chrome’s potential in the days leading up to the Kentucky Derby as the national media set up shop on Churchill Downs’ backstretch, Art telling BloodHorse, “He’s a different horse right now, and he’s touting me, so I said, ‘Hey, let’s go.’ So far, he hasn’t proven me wrong.”

On May 3, California Chrome proved his trainer right again, winning the Kentucky Derby by a geared-down 1 ¾ lengths. A bandwagon of horse racing fans partial to Chrome that had been growing steadily for weeks thus welcomed hundreds of thousands more, many of them eager to share their fondness for the Kentucky Derby winner via photos and videos on social media as Chrome and his connections headed to Baltimore’s Pimlico Race Course for the May 17 Preakness Stakes.

California Chrome fueled the growing frenzy with an 1 ½-length win in Preakness 139, and co-owner Steve Coburn captured what many were thinking about this special colt when he said afterward, “I honestly believe this is America’s horse. He’s giving everybody that little light bulb – and when it clicks on, you know what? We can do this.”

When a Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner captures the imagination of the wider public, fun things happen across all generations. Kids write fan letters or even reel off some rap rhymes. Racetrack goers dress up in homage to their new favorite horse. Even the hardened railbirds you can find betting the third at Laurel Park on a Thursday get excited and start talking about witnessing history.

All of these things happened after California Chrome’s triumphs in Kentucky and Maryland. America hadn’t seen a Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978, and more and more people were beginning to think that drought was about to end.

“Well, there was a long drought between Citation [in 1948] and Secretariat [1973],” Patrice Wolfson, owner-breeder of Affirmed, told BloodHorse leading up to the Belmont. “The ’40s had four Triple Crown winners and the ‘70s, had three, almost four with Spectacular Bid.

“[California Chrome] has such pizazz, he’s captured the people’s imagination. His owners are different and are very close to the horse. They’re refreshing, very refreshing.”

A ‘Chromie’ at the Belmont Stakes. (Eclipse Sportswire)

Buildup to the 146^th Belmont Stakes reached a level second only to Smarty Jones’ bid ten years prior, as a throng of media descended upon massive Belmont Park for round-the-clock coverage while Chrome and his rivals trained. The remaining naysayers questioned whether California Chrome would be able to prove best at the Belmont Stakes’ taxing 1 ½-mile distance, even if his wins in the Derby and Preakness were relatively easy. Some Kentucky Derby also-rans were back to try again against Chrome along with a couple of intriguing new shooters, including well-bred Peter Pan Stakes winner Tonalist, but California Chrome’s preparations over Big Sandy had gone well, and he was sent off as the 0.85-1 post-time favorite on the afternoon of June 7. A crowd of 102,099 packed Belmont Park, the largest attendance for the Belmont Stakes since the record set in 2004 for Smarty Jones, and the third biggest of all time.

What had been a “too good to be true” story arc turned out to be … too good to be true in the end. California Chrome stumbled and was bumped at the start of the Belmont Stakes, got his right foot stepped on, recovered, and made a valiant effort in the homestretch but finished in a dead heat for fourth place behind Tonalist, whose win was the first of what is now four Belmont Stakes for his breed-shaping sire, Tapit.

The three horses finishing in front of California Chrome plus his dead-heat partner Wicked Strong had all come into the Belmont with either one or two more weeks’ rest than the Preakness winner, and that fact was not lost on Steve Coburn, who spoke his mind loud and clear to NBC’s Kenny Rice minutes after the Belmont was made official as he lambasted the traditional schedule of the Triple Crown series and vowed that there would not be a Triple Crown winner in his lifetime. (Of course, one year later American Pharoah swept the Triple Crown, thus confirming, for the millionth time it seems, D. Wayne Lukas’ maxim: “People have opinions, horses have the facts.”)

While the finale to California Chrome’s Triple Crown quest might have been deflating, those several weeks during spring 2014 still shine brightly in the memories of racing fans who were fortunate enough to bear witness. And unlike many 3-year-olds who win Triple Crown races, California Chrome stayed in training, adding more accomplishments to his legacy. He nearly won that fall’s Breeders’ Cup Classic, finishing third by a neck, and then wrapped up 2014 with a Grade 1 win in a turf race (that’s right, turf) back in his home state, a résumé that easily clinched Horse of the Year honors at the Eclipse Awards. Injuries shortened his 4-year-old campaign, but Chrome came back arguably better than ever at age 5 in 2016, winning the Dubai World Cup overseas, dominating the Pacific Classic at Del Mar, and finishing a half-length shy of rising star Arrogate in the Breeders’ Cup Classic.

California Chrome was awarded Horse of the Year again for 2016, and he was retired early in 2017 with a career bankroll of $14,752,650, which currently ranks seventh all time according to Equibase among horses competing in the U.S. and Dubai. He was enshrined in the National Museum of Racing Hall of Fame last year, and California Chrome now stands at stud in Japan, 10 years after capturing the devotion of millions of fans. More than a few of these “Chromies” are hoping that their favorite racehorse will be making a return overseas flight to Old Friends Thoroughbred retirement home or somewhere similar in the not-so-distant future.