There is an old-fashioned reliability about California Chrome that is taken for granted in this age of speed figures and big-day performances.Put it this way: In a career of 23 races dating to his maiden special weight debut at Hollywood Park on April 26, 2013, California Chrome has never missed a start while under the training and management of Art Sherman and his crew.The only time California Chrome had to bow out of a commitment was at Royal Ascot in June 2015, when he had been removed from the Sherman stable and trained in Newmarket, England. California Chromes scratch from the Prince of Waless Stakes was a humiliating blow for Sherman, whose name was still associated with the champion despite an absence of more than two months from his care.Once California Chrome was returned to the Sherman stable last October, Sherman laid out a campaign for 2016 by the seasons, each season geared toward winning a major prize. The winter aimed for the $10 million Dubai World Cup with a comeback in the San Pasqual at Santa Anita and a minor prep in Dubai. Bulls-eye. The spring was for World Cup recovery, followed by two races during the summer at Del Mar in the San Diego Handicap and the $1 million Pacific Classic. Nailed them both.Now comes the autumn and Shermans two-step to the $6 million Breeders Cup Classic on Nov. 5. Step 1 comes Saturday in the $300,000 Awesome Again Stakes at Santa Anita, a race the trainer does not take lightly, even though he could if he wanted. Facing basically the same West Coast horses he has tamed three times this year, Sherman was asked if he was torn between letting California Chrome coast to a conservative score or uncork a doozy in hopes of scaring off Breeders Cup competition.I dont know -- what do you think? he replied, keeping his cards close. Im just hoping the race goes. The racing secretary said hed run if he had to.No doubt, Sherman has been blessed with a superior racehorse of intrinsic soundness, robust health, and strong recuperative powers. But the trainer takes nothing for granted.I think weve done a lot to make sure he stays the way he is, Sherman said last weekend, shortly after California Chrome turned in his final work at Los Alamitos for the Awesome Again. The double-wide stall he loves. The attention he gets from all our people. After every race, he gets X-rayed to make sure nothings changed. We take blood all the time to tell us if what we see is the real thing, because the good ones will sometimes fool you, and we dont want something sneaking up on us.The Awesome Again, a 1-1/8-mile race under allowance weight conditions, used to be a handicap called the Goodwood. The name was easy to lose since there was no reason to continue to honor the relationship between the Oak Tree Racing Association and Goodwood Racecourse in England once Oak Tree had been booted from its lease at Santa Anita Park.Oak Tree persists as a charitable entity by sponsoring meets at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton, Calif., so it is out of the big-race business. Goodwood, on the other hand, continues to run the Group 3 Oak Tree Stakes during its Glorious Goodwood meet in late July, further evidence as to why there will always be an England.Everyone appreciates that Awesome Agains 1997 record of six wins in six starts -- including the Stephen Foster, the Whitney, and the Breeders Cup Classic -- should have earned him some kind of recognition beyond a place in the Canadian Hall of Fame. And no one has anything but admiration for Awesome Again as a stallion who boasts sons and daughters like Ghostzapper, Game On Dude, Ginger Punch, Round Pond, Awesome Gem, and Oxbow.We also get it that Frank Stronach raced Awesome Again and stands him at his Adena Springs Farm in Kentucky, and Santa Anita is Stronachs racetrack. Still, the renaming would have gone down a whole lot easier if Awesome Again had run at least once at Santa Anita, which he did not.You could slap the name of Trump University on Saturdays race, and it wouldnt make any difference to California Chrome. The last time he failed to fire his best shot was in the 2014 Pennsylvania Derby, when the size of the purse and the bonuses attached got the better of his people. Given the rare chance of campaigning a mature, 5-year-old stallion, Sherman awakens each day like a man with the weight of the game on his shoulders.Hes so honest, so straightforward, you just want to always do right by him, and for his fans, Sherman said. I think we have, but weve got a couple more challenges to go.Sherman stared off in the direction of California Chrome as he headed back to the stables after a work, then turned to his phone and punched in the clockers number.Thats what I got, Sherman said, and then hung up.The clocker told me Im getting better at the poles, Sherman said with a wink. He even offered me a job. Who knows, I might need one after Chromes gone. But I dont want to think about that just yet.Shoes Ireland Free Shipping . "Thank you for the warm welcome," Beckham said on an 80-degree February morning. In this case, it was soccer weather. The sport moved a step closer to returning to South Florida on Wednesday, when Beckham confirmed he has exercised his option to purchase a Major League Soccer expansion franchise in Miami. Shoes Ireland From China . The Montreal Canadiens announced on Friday that the veteran forward will return to the teams line-up on Saturday night when the Habs visit the Nashville Predators. https://www.shoesirelandsale.com/ . The parade and rally were held to celebrate the Saskatchewan Roughriders 45-23 win over the Hamilton Tiger-Cats on Sunday in the CFLs championship game. Cheap Shoes Ireland Online . -- On the field, it was business as usual for Jameis Winston and No. Fake Shoes Ireland . Speaking Thursday on TSN 1050 Thursday, the Leafs GM also touched on the questions surrounding the teams leadership and the struggles of his big-name free-agent signing. “Its not from lack of effort from the coaching staff.LAS VEGAS -- The Friday Football Showdown at the Golden Nugget is down to the semifinals after the top four seeds all lost their quarterfinal matches.The first semifinal match, pitting Anthony Curtis against Michael Wright, will take place on Friday, Dec. 16, with picks being made from 2-3 p.m. PT on The Las Vegas Sportsline radio show (ESPN AM-1100 here in Vegas and online at lvsportsnetwork.com). Each competitor will give their seven best bets on NFL and NCAA sides and totals (with games though Wednesday, Dec. 21 available). Well post their plays Friday night in the Comments section below. Joe Gaffney meets Christopher Kozak in the second semifinal, which is similarly timed and covered on Friday, Dec. 23; both semifinal winners meet in the finals on Dec. 30.There were 96 entries in the Friday Football Showdown this year, for a total prize pool of $192,000. All entrants made picks through the first 10 weeks of the season, with the top seven records advancing to the head-to-head playoff format along with a wild-card chase winner from Weeks 9-10).Wright, playing under the alias BBQ Guy, was the wild-card winner at 13-4-1 ATS, which was best among players who hadnt already qualified for the playoffs. He faced No. 1 seed Randy McKay (aka RoughRider39) over Thanksgiving weekend and both went 4-3, but Wright won the tiebreaker as both won with their top two plays while Wright won his third-best bet (the Chiefs +3.5 in their 30-27 overtime win at the Broncos) and McKay lost with Toledo +9 in a 55-35 loss at Western Michigan.His opponent, Curtis, is the owner of Huntington Press book-publishing house and the Las Vegas Advisor newsletter (lasvegasadvisor.com), who uses his own name on the contest entry along with his partner Frank Betti, the sports betting expert on the LVA sports blog. They were the No. 6 seed and went 5-2 to defeat No. 3 seed Chris Zeniuk (3-4), and they are now the top seed -- giving them the right to pick which weekend to compete.Next weeks semifinal features Gaffney, who was part of the 2007 Hilton SuperContest-winning team of Ptshverj Gaffney. His entry at the Nugget was called Hells Kitchen and was in the name of Nancy Clark, his proxy. He went 4-3 in the first quarterfinal match as the No. 5 seed to eliminate No. 4 Derek Stevens, the owner of thhe D Hotel-Casino in downtown Las Vegas.dddddddddddd Kozak, the No. 7 seed, went 4-3 games from Dec. 2-5 and beat Frank Perez on the second tiebreaker.All of the playoff qualifiers earned $3,000 apiece and then the quarterfinal winners each won $2,000 for a total of $32,000 out of the purse. The remaining $160,000 is split up with $96,000 to the eventual champion (for a total haul of $101,000), $40,000 to the runner-up, $8,000 each to the semifinal losers and $8,000 to the winner of a bonus mini-contest held in NFL Weeks 15-17 for all contestants (even those eliminated earlier, so dont forget to put in your seven plays this weekend if you entered).SuperContest heads into final three weeksIts crunch time in the Westgate SuperContest, with three weeks remaining in the NFL season for the top contenders and those trying to finish in the top 50 of the famous contest that drew a record 1,854 entrants this year at $1,500 apiece, with first place worth $895,482.The SuperContest also has a mini-contest with $20,000 (aggregate) for the best record over the last three weeks.The contestant using the alias Mac Sports Inc. is the leader for the second straight week at 46-23-1 (66.7 percent) with 46.5 points, as players receive one point for each win and half a point for a push. Orange Crush is in second place with 46 points with the sextet of Greybeard, Just Cover Baby!, Unclebobn4brothers, Vegasportsline.com and former leaders Mark Davis and Janknation (who is actually the same person with two separate entries that has been using mostly identical plays all season) at 45.5 -- meaning that the top eight is separated by just one correct pick.The top five most selected teams -- a point of reference that, when used, usually fares well as SuperContestants play the stale lines that are posted on Wednesday afternoon with final picks not due until 11 a.m. PT Saturday -- were ridiculed as a great fade this year when they were below 30 percent. However, they went 4-0-1 ATS last week (with the push coming on the Ravens +7 on Monday night), and they are 15-4-1 ATS the last four weeks to silence those critics; theyre up to 30-37-3 (44.8 percent) on the season. ' ' '