California Chrome’s new owner: ‘We promise to take care of him’
by HRN Staff
Keisuke Onishi, head of Japan’s JS Company that recently announced it had purchased California Chrome, knew well of the two-time Horse of the Year’s popularity when executing the deal.
In a World Horse Racing video feature published Friday, he also noted that the news shut down his company’s website for hours given the crush of clicks.
Much of that may have stemmed from Japanese curiosity in an American dirt champion making his way overseas. But this horse has always had his “Chromies,” too, and there was concern from them about the 2014 Kentucky Derby winner leaving his Kentucky home as a Taylor Made stallion.
“Please don’t be afraid of his next career here because we promise to take care of him very deeply,” Onishi said in the video.
California Chrome, Onishi added, will quarantine in December and is expected to arrive in Japan after the new year. By the end of January, he’ll have settled in at Arrow Stud which stands, among others, Lani, who ran in all three legs of the 2016 Triple Crown series.
Japan will also be the new home next year to likely Horse of the Year Bricks and Mortar as well as Animal Kingdom who, like California Chrome, won the Kentucky Derby and Dubai World Cup.
Onishi’s interview was published five years to the day that California Chrome scored another of his career-defining victories, winning on the turf in the Hollywood Derby (G1) at Del Mar. Given wins over multiple surfaces, “There is very big support for him,” Onishi said.
California Chrome is expected to cover 120-130 mares next season, a number of them with the great Sunday Silence in their blood. It will coincide with his first 2-year-old runners heading to the races in the U.S.
“He’s just the horse we wanted,” Onishi said. “We are really happy to import such a good horse — a special horse. A big name — he’s a special horse.”