White mare produces different Chrome

An unusually marked, mostly white colt from the last crop of California Chrome's sire Lucky Pulpit was foaled on May 19 at Stone Bridge Farm in New York - so fulfilling a dream sparked in owner-breeder Gary Tolchin when he attended races with his father as a youth.

The colt was delivered by the white mare, Passionforfashion, acquired privately last year after a lengthy search for a white thoroughbred.

"I always wanted a white horse after I saw one at Aqueduct with my father when I was growing up. My goal is to continue breeding white horses," Tolchin said, adding that he intends to keep the newborn colt and eventually place him in training for racing.

Rick Bailey, registrar of The Jockey Club, said it is too soon to determine what colour the colt officially will be given when registered. His colouring is similar, though rather more splashed with chestnut, to that of Passionforfashion's dam, the registered white Trust N Luck mare Turf Club, who also had liberal chestnut markings.

Tolchin, based in New Jersey and active in the New York and Kentucky breeding programs, has owned or co-owned many prominent runners - including champion Big Brown, winner of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes.

His colt's birth came three months after Lucky Pulpit died of an apparent heart attack when covering his first mare of the 2017 season.

Thoroughbreds with markings similar to his colour pattern are rare, but several have become sensations while racing in Japan. The white Sunday Silence mare Shirayukihime produced multiple stakes winner Yukichan; a white filly by Kurofune; and fan favourites Marble Cake and Buchiko, both chestnut-spotted, registered white fillies by King Kamehameha.

"Passionforfashion is a beautiful mare and her colt is so distinctive and unusual," Tolchin said. "They are more than dreams come true."