( CNN ) -- Welcome to the world of rock and roll racing . `` He loves the noise , he knows he 's a star , he poses for the photographs , '' trainer Art Sherman -- part of the team behind California Chrome , favorite for Saturday 's Kentucky Derby -- tells CNN . `` Pure and simple he 's a rock star . '' California Chrome 's joint owner Steve Coburn is even more effusive . `` We 've got one elderly gentleman who comes to the races who has a jackass tattoo on his shoulder , '' explains Coburn , a nod to the jackass on California Chrome 's racing silks . `` Fans do n't do that unless you 're a rock star . People flock where he goes . '' The equine equivalent of a musical superstar is also the main protagonist in a fairytale on a par with the great Seabiscuit , the diminutive thoroughbred racehorse which defied the odds and delighted a depression-hit U.S. and whose story was turned into a movie 11 years ago . California Chrome must surely have Hollywood executives salivating at the prospect of how events might unfold at at Churchill Downs ' historic dirt track in Louisville this weekend . The three-year-old colt 's remarkable tale began in the womb of Love the Chase , a mare that Coburn and co-owner Perry Martin bought for $ 8,000 with a view to breeding . They bred her to the stallion Lucky Pulpit for a reduced fee of $ 2,000 , the first breeding the novice pair had ever undertaken . It could have been a case of first time lucky as their offspring has earned Coburn and Perry more than $ 1 million in prize money and chalked up illustrious wins at the Santa Anita Derby , San Felipe Stakes and California Cup Derby . His recent run of success -- four wins in his last four outings -- has marked California Chrome out as a pre-race favorite for the Kentucky Derby -- the first race in horse racing 's coveted Triple Crown , which also includes the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes -- in the chase for a purse of $ 2m . Understandably , the horse 's value has rocketed , and is now estimated to be around $ 12m . Coburn and Martin were recently offered $ 6m for a controlling 51 % stake in the horse , which they turned down . The whole story is so fanciful that the horse-owning partnership goes under the name Dumb Ass Partnership or DAP Racing , hence the jackass on their colors . `` When Perry and I bought the filly , one of the barn hands said we must be dumb asses to get into this game and hence the name , '' Coburn explains to CNN . But through every strand and sinew there is a heart-warming tale behind California Chrome . For a start , he races in the purple and green , the favorite colors of the duo 's respective wives . Then there 's the location where the horse has been stabled . His neighbours at Los Alamitos racecourse in Orange County are predominantly quarter horses , named for the quarter mile horse races that are regularly held at the track where California Chrome is exercised at 7.30 am every morning . If California Chrome wins the Derby he will also become the first California-trained horse to win since Decidedly 's success in 1962 . Then there is the small matter of his 77-year-old trainer Sherman , who has just 15 horses in his yard but whose history with the Derby dates back to 1955 . Back then , Sherman acted as the exercise rider for race winner Swaps , who also happens to feature in the distant bloodline of California Chrome . Sherman , far younger and more energetic than his years would suggest , recalls : `` I was barely 18 years old and my memories are a little bit different now . Back then I was so young , it did n't mean so much . `` I 've put 60 years into this business and I thought my chance in the Kentucky Derby had gone . You never say never . `` Now I 've got another chance . It 's a fairytale and I do believe in fate . He 'll be the horse to beat . He 's been awesome these last four races , we just hope he has five in him . But it 's a different ball game when 150,000 people are screaming at you . But he 's a rock star is n't he ? That should n't be a problem . `` He just loves to run , he 'll run all day long . We just need some luck , that plays a big part in such a story . His story is just like that of Seabiscuit is n't it ? It 'd be a hell of a book or a movie if he pulls it off . '' Sherman 's first win as a jockey aptly came at Hollywood Park in 1957 , where his current wonder horse first announced himself in the big time with victory in last year 's King Glorious Stakes . That he should have ever got here bred by Martin , who works for a consumer safety firm , and Coburn , whose company JCP Enterprises makes the magnetic strips on credit cards , is remarkable , bearing in mind this is the first horse that Coburn has ever raced . `` One of the things on mine and my wife 's bucket list was to go to the Kentucky Derby , '' he says . `` I 'll board the plane this year but I never imagined I 'd do it with a horse I own . `` This whole thing is a fairytale coming true , it 's a dream . It 's better than a movie script because it 's coming true . People spend millions on horses each year and we 've spent basically $ 10,000 . '' The horse 's name was also literally picked out of a hat as the two owners and their spouses each put a name into a hat for a waitress at a Californian restaurant to select . The Derby favorite could just as easily have been called Lucky at Love or Big Chapter but Coburn 's pick , California Chrome -- a nod to the white markings that are called chrome by horse racing aficionados -- proved the selection . Whatever the name , the owners more often than not just call him junior but Coburn believes if he succeeds at Churchill Downs Saturday the he could become known as the `` people 's horse '' too . `` I do believe he 's that , like Seabiscuit , '' Coburn adds . `` He became the people 's horse in the depression because he was the little guy kicking the big guy . We 're doing that in the same kind of way . `` No one ever gave it any credence and we should n't be where we are now . This is n't a blue-blooded horse , he 's a proper red-blooded colt . `` We 're just two guys that worked hard and still have our days jobs . We get up at 4.30am every morning to go to work . Well , I ca n't retire as I 'd be in my wife 's way and I think she 'd shoot me ! But we still work hard . We 're not guys who could buy whatever we want . '' Dream ending . The unnamed purchaser who offered $ 6m , however , clearly was . Surely Coburn was tempted to give in ? `` It felt like a slap in the face after all we 'd done , '' he says . `` You can have all the money in the world to buy every single grain of sand on a beach but you ca n't buy this story . `` We 've worked hard for this , similarly Love the Chase , which someone offered $ 1.5m for . This is n't about the money , this is about the dream and we want to finish off that dream . '' Whether that dream reaches fruition in Illinois this weekend is another matter . Some pre-race rain is a slight concern for Sherman and his team but Coburn has never once wavered in his expectation . `` If he gets a clean run , he 'll win , '' he says . `` I 've said that before and I 've been told I 'm bold and arrogant . I 'm not either of those . I 'm just a man that loves this horse and believes in the fairytale . '' Saturday also happens to be Coburn 's 62nd birthday , could that be when his fairytale comes true ? Kentucky Derby - fast facts .
California Chrome cost just $ 10,000 and is shock favorite for Saturday 's Kentucky Derby . Trainer Art Sherman , who has been involved with classic since 1950s , calls him a `` rock star '' His owners recently turned down a $ 6m offer for a half-share in the horse . California Chrome has been called a modern-day Seabiscuit and the `` people 's horse ''