Ownership of California Chrome
[2] DAP stands for "Dumb Ass Partners"—a tongue-in-cheek response to a passerby who questioned their wisdom in purchasing the partnership's first racehorse, the mare Love the Chase, who became the dam of 2014 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes winner California Chrome, her first foal.
Following the sale, Martins and Taylor Made each sold "a few" shares in the stallion to "select breeders who would support the horse," forming the ownership syndicate California Chrome, LLC.
The DAP partnership had jointly owned other horses, including California Chrome's full siblings and his dam, Love the Chase.
"[6] The Martins seldom talked to the press,[7] but Melissa Hoppert of The New York Times described them as the "quiet thinkers," noting that Perry Martin planned the mating of Lucky Pulpit with Love the Chase, mapped out a "Road to the Derby" racing plan for the horse, and promoted use of a nasal strip for California Chrome's races.
[7] Denise Martin had a degree from California State University, was MTL's CEO and senior chemist, managing the company's fatigue testing and thermal analytics.
[16] They moved to California in 1987, where Perry Martin was employed as a metallurgist by the Air Force and Denise briefly job shadowed a racehorse trainer in the Sacramento area.
[13][24] Love the Chase was purchased for $30,000 as a two-year-old by an agent for a horse ownership group called the Blinkers On Racing Stable.
[2][25] As a two- and three-year-old filly, Love the Chase had been very nervous and often panicked in the saddling paddock, in effect losing races before she ever got to the starting gate.
[25] When Blinkers On Racing Stable decided to dissolve the Love the Chase syndicate, both the Coburns and the Martins wanted to buy the filly.
[23] They created a caricature of a buck-toothed donkey to adorn the back of their racing silks, chose purple and green, the favorite colors of Carolyn Coburn and Denise Martin, for their stable colors,[11] and put the initials "DAP" on California Chrome's blinker hood and the left front of the jockey's silks.
[14][25] Wives Denise Martin and Carolyn Coburn became closely involved with the partnership, though they did not appear as owners on official records kept by Equibase.
When she retired, they discovered that she had raced with a breathing problem—an entrapped epiglottis that restricted her air intake,[6] but was corrected with surgery.
[31][a] After California Chrome became a Kentucky Derby contender, Martin and Coburn turned down an offer of $2.1 million for Love the Chase.
[33] In August 2016, Martin announced that Love the Chase, confirmed in foal to Tapit, would be sold at the November Fasig-Tipton sale, as he wished to buy mares who could be bred to California Chrome.
[11] Steve Coburn said he had a dream not long before California Chrome's birth that the foal would be a colt with four white feet and a blaze.
[36] California Chrome was relatively large for a newborn foal, weighing 137 pounds (62 kg), and active, described by Martin as "running circles around Momma" within two hours of birth.
[26][42] After his first six races, he was paired with jockey Victor Espinoza and the team went on to a six-race winning streak that included the 2014 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes.
[1] Prior to the Santa Anita Derby on April 8, 2014,[43] DAP Racing turned down a $6 million offer for a 51% controlling interest in California Chrome that would have mandated putting the horse with a different trainer.
Sherman expressed passing disappointment, but Coburn stopped talking to the press altogether, and Martin commented, "Steve is my compass, whatever he suggests, that means I go 180 degrees the other way.
[49] California Chrome's full sister, Hope's Love, foaled in 2013, had placed second in her racing debut at Golden Gate Fields in June, 2015, trained by Art Sherman's son, Steve.
"[56] Martin stated to the press in August 2016 that he ultimately would keep a 10% interest in the stallion and invest in mares suitable for crossing with California Chrome.
