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California Chrome for President

California Chrome may have come up short in the Triple Crown, but he’s got a resume that puts most horses to shame. He won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes in 2014, which would be enough for any horse, but he’s still going strong two years later as a five-year-old. After winning the 2016 Dubai World Cup, he became the richest North American racehorse in history (but no, he’s not going to show you his tax returns.) He polls well with the younger generation. His popularity even earned him endorsement deals from Breathe Right nasal strips (Chrome races with FLAIR Strips; Breathe Right makes a similar product for human noses) and Skechers, a company that doesn’t make any horse or equestrian products at all. Clearly, he knows how to negotiate and win.



Chrome pledges to Make America Awesome Again, and he started by winning the Awesome Again Stakes last weekend. That’s where Chrome’s co-owner Perry Martin handed out the “Vote Chrome for President” buttons that the horse’s fans now sport.



“The two major candidates don’t have two good legs to stand on,” said Martin. “We proved (Saturday) Chrome has four.”

Leslie Potter

Leslie Potter is a graduate of William Woods University where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Equestrian Science with a concentration in saddle seat riding and a minor in Journalism/Mass Communications. She is currently a writer and photographer in Lexington, Ky. Potter worked as a barn manager and riding instructor and was a freelance reporter and photographer for the Horsemen's Yankee Pedlar and Saddle Horse Report before moving to Lexington to join Horse Illustrated as Web Editor from 2008 to 2019. Her current equestrian pursuits include being a grown-up lesson kid at an eventing barn and trail riding with her senior Morgan gelding, Snoopy.

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