Thanks to Santa Anita Park, fans of California Chrome in the Triple Crown contender’s home state can make their support as plain as, well, the noses on their faces.
The racetrack in Arcadia, California, will host a viewing party and concert when California Chrome goes for the final leg of the Triple Crown, the Belmont Stakes, across the country in New York on June 7.
Lucky fans can pick up a free commemorative nasal strip emblazoned “Chrome”.
The chestnut colt has worn an equine version of the stick-on strip — designed to open nasal passages without the use of drugs — in six straight victories, including his Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes triumphs.
In the 1 1/2-mile Belmont Stakes he’ll be trying to become just the 12th horse, and the first since Affirmed in 1978, to sweep the coveted treble.
“The nasal strip is purple and displays “Chrome” across it,” Santa Anita said.
The track northeast of Los Angeles, which will host the 2014 Breeders’ Cup later this year, will also hand out 10,000 buttons with the legend “Bring it Home California Chrome”.
California Chrome’s nasal strip threatened to become an issue in his Triple Crown bid, when it was feared racing officials in New York might not approve it.
Only a day after formally asking race stewards to allow the nasal strips, the colt’s owners got the go-ahead.
Stewards conferred with Dr. Scott E. Palmer, the New York State Gaming Commission (NYSCG) equine medical director, who agreed that the strips could be allowed because they neither enhance performance nor endanger the horse.