LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Art Sherman looked dazed, perhaps still a bit uncertain that he had been handed such a magnificent gift after six decades of devotion to racehorses.

A few feet away, Steve Coburn’s voice caught with emotion as he spoke of those who didn’t believe. Perry Martin wiped tears from his eyes, hugging a relative who shouted: “Oh my God, what a ride! Just like you called it!”

California Chrome had long been the horse of dreams for these men, and the rest of the world finally caught up to their vision Saturday against the classic backdrop of Churchill Downs.

Defying the skepticism of many experienced horsemen, the West Coast colt of modest lineage charged to victory as the 5-2 favorite in the 140th running of the Kentucky Derby.

“He gave me the biggest thrill of my life,” said Sherman, who at 77 became the oldest trainer to win the Derby. “At this stage of my life, what else could I want?”

Coburn, who co-owns California Chrome with Martin, had an answer.

“I said our horse would win the Kentucky Derby, and when he wins, I believe this horse will win the Triple Crown,” he said. “I told people. I said this colt will go down in history, because he’s going to be the first California-bred to win the Triple Crown.”

If California Chrome manages to win the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes, he would become the first to pull it off since Affirmed in 1978.

Rival trainers said they wouldn’t doubt it after what they saw Saturday.

“I was very, very wrong,” said Dale Romans, who saddled Medal Count in the Derby and believed California Chrome had no chance. “We might have just seen a super horse and a super trainer. You don’t fake your way to the winner’s circle at the Kentucky Derby.”

Starting from the No. 6 post, California Chrome ran just off the lead under jockey Victor Espinoza, then pulled away easily at the top of the stretch to win by 1 ¾ lengths.

It was exactly the race Sherman had envisioned all week.

“I tell you, he rode him picture-perfect,” the trainer said of Espinoza, who won his second Kentucky Derby.

“This was a typical race for him,” Espinoza said, a scary thought for the rest of the 3-year-olds on the planet.

With his victory before a crowd of 164,906, the second-largest in Kentucky Derby history, California Chrome took home $1.418 million of a $2.178 million total purse. The favorite paid $7 to win, $5.60 to place and $4.20 to show. Commanding Curve, a 38-1 underdog, finished second and paid $31.80 and $15.40. Arkansas Derby winner Danza, a 9-1 third choice, finished third and $6.

Ride on Curlin, the runner-up in the Arkansas Derby ridden by three-time Derby winner Calvin Borel, finished seventh. Tapiture, winner of the Grade III Southwest Stakes at Oaklawn Park, finished 15th.

All winter and spring, as his top 3-year-old rivals succumbed to injuries or delivered stagnant performances, California Chrome kept getting better.

The Kentucky Derby is known for confounding expectations with its packed fields and unevenly tested competitors, but California Chrome was exactly the horse at Churchill he had been in winning the Santa Anita Derby a month earlier.

The chestnut colt was the fastest horse coming in and also, perhaps, the best story.

Coburn and Martin are far from old-timey racing royalty. They are middle-class people who met when they partnered to buy California Chrome’s mother, Maryland-bred Love the Chase, for $8,000. They spent another $2,000 to pair her with an undistinguished stallion named Lucky Pulpit.

Only a wild optimist could have seen the potential magic in the mix. But Coburn said he dreamed of a special, chestnut horse just three weeks before Love the Chase gave birth to her first foal, California Chrome.

He and Martin loved the curious, personable colt and placed him under Sherman’s care, figuring the modest, old school trainer would pay the attention he needed.

Sherman had been a steady winner for years without ever getting his hands on a Triple Crown talent. California Chrome brought him back to Churchill Downs for the first time in 59 years. Sherman’s last visit was as an 18-year-old stable hand for 1955 champion Swaps.

He visited Swaps’ grave at the Kentucky Derby Museum on Thursday and asked the super horse of his youth for a little help with his super horse of today.

“I said a little prayer and it came true,” Sherman recalled. “I said I hope he’s another Swaps.”

As California Chrome continued to exceed expectations with dominant victories in his prep races, Coburn and Martin received potentially life-changing purchase offers, the greatest a $6 million bid for 51 percent of the horse. They said no to the well-moneyed suitors.

This was their story to see through.

California Chrome reached Churchill Downs as a clear favorite, yet veteran horsemen such as Romans still questioned his chances. They fixated on his unremarkable pedigree, or on the fact that he’d never run outside California, or on Sherman’s lack of experience on the big stage.

“I thought he’d had it all his own way,” Romans conceded.

“Do you nonbelievers believe in this horse now?” Coburn asked as well-wishers surrounded him on the track.

“Do you not believe this man can train a horse?” he said, nodding to Sherman. “Because if you don’t, you need to have your head examined.”

The stage will now switch to Maryland. Sherman said he’ll probably keep California Chrome in Kentucky for about a week, then transport him to Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore ahead of the May 17 Preakness.

He knows the spotlight and the expectations will only intensify, but he promised to remain the same thankful man who charmed onlookers for the past week in Louisville.

“I’m just the same old Art Sherman,” he said. “Except I won the Kentucky Derby.”

Jockey club

Victor Espinoza (right), who won the Kentucky Derby in 2002 aboard War Emblem, won his second Derby on Saturday with California Chrome, making him one of only 24 jockeys with more than one victory in the 140-year-old race.

5 Eddie Arcaro (1938, 1941, 1945, 1948, 1952)

5 Bill Hartack (1957, 1960, 1962, 1964, 1969)

4 Willie Shoemaker (1955, 1959, 1965, 1986)

3 Isaac Murphy (1884, 1890, 1891)

3 Earl Sande (1923, 1925, 1930)

3 Angel Cordero Jr. (1974, 1976, 1985)

3 Gary Stevens (1988, 1995, 1997)

3 Kent Desormeaux (1998, 2000, 2008)

3 Calvin Borel (2010, 2009, 2007)

15 jockeys have won the Derby twice SOURCE Kentucky Derby media guide

Derby undercard

A look at the graded stakes races on Saturday’s undercard at the Kentucky Derby in Louisville, Ky: WOODFORD RESERVE TURF CLASSIC Two-time Horse of the Year Wise Dan won the $500,000 Grade I race for the second consecutive year. The gelding, trained by Charlie LoPresti and ridden by John Velazquez, edged Seek Again by a neck, running 1 1/8 miles in 1:47.73. Wise Dan paid $3.

HUMANA DISTAFF STAKES Midnight Lucky returned from an 11-month layoff to post a 4 1/2-length victory over Street Girl in the $330,600 Grade I race. Midnight Lucky went gate to wire, finishing in 1:22.23, and paid $5.20.

CHURCHILL DOWNS STAKES Central Banker pulled away from a tenacious Shakin It Up after a stretch duel to win the $464,800 Grade II race. Central Banker paid $23.60.

CHURCHILL DISTAFF TURF MILE Coffee Clique rallied up the rail to overtake Dame Maria for a half-length victory in the $336,900 Grade II race. Coffee Clique finished in 1:34.66 and paid $13.80.

AMERICAN TURF STAKES Global View rallied to catch Storming Inti just in time in the $294,500 Grade II race. Global View covered 1 1/16 miles in 1:41.65 and paid $14.

Sports, Pages 25 on 05/04/2014