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TheAssociatedPress BALTIMORE Nomatterwhatsce- nario he's thrust into, California Chrome usually finds a way to make the adjustment. Sloppy track? No problem. Slow pace? Got it covered. Fast pace? Piece of cake. The Kentucky Derby winner tested the track at Pimlico Race Course for the first time Tuesday and took to it like a kid in a sand- box. "He seemed to handle the track just great," assistant trainer Alan Sherman said. "He just jogged but he was happy. He's really happy right now. So that's a good thing." The Triple Crown hopeful brings a five-race winning streak into Saturday's Preakness. Be- cause there is a smaller field than the Derby, a shorter distance and several new shooters, this race has the potential to be different. Regardless of how it shapes up, California Chrome should be ready to deal with it. "He's so tactical," Sherman said. "If they go slow in front, he'll take it right to them and push the horses in front of him. If they're going fast in front, he can just sit off the pace. That's the good thing about him. He doesn't have one style of run- ning. He's pretty pushbutton. If you ask him, he'll do it." It's supposed to rain on Friday, but the weather forecast for Sat- urday is 70 degrees and partly cloudy. Sherman has no intention of watching The Weather Channel on an hourly basis. "We're not scared," he said. "He trained really good at Churchill on a sloppy track. He actually looked like he liked it a lot." No two tracks are alike, except perhaps to the undiscerning Cali- fornia Chrome. "He had no issues on the track surface at all," Sherman said af- ter Tuesday's practice run. "This horse hasn't had to take his track with him. He's won on four differ- ent tracks now. So I don't think that's an issue. I'm hoping it isn't anyway." Owners Perry Martin and Steve Coburn bred an $8,000 mare to a $2,500 stallion to produce Califor- nia Chrome, whose racing career did not generate much fanfare until he won the final stakes race at Hol- lywood Park, the King Glorious, by 6¼ lengths. That launched the five- win streak that propelled him into position to become the first Tri- ple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978. Along the way, the father-son training duo of Art and Alan Sher- man realized they had a horse most PREAKNESS California Chrome ready for anything It'sallcomingdowntothe final 30days. Brazil had seven years to get ready for the World Cup, but it enters the final month of preparations with a lot yet to be done, with stadiums under construction. WORLD CUP SOCCER Withamonthtogo, Brazil has work to do FULLSTORYONPAGEB2 The Red Bluff Lady Spartans sit second in Division 3. Corn- ing has the fourth spot and a potential home game in D-4. Los Molinos is 15th in Division 5and Mercy is 11th in Division 6with no remaining games. SOFTBALL So ball playoff points with one week to play The Northern Section is scheduled to hold the baseball playoff seeding meeting 9a.m. today at Pleasant Valley High School. Check redbluffdaily- news.com to find out where Red Bluff and Corning end up. BASEBALL Northern Section to release brackets today Special to the DN RED BLUFF The 2014 Red Bluff High junior varsity baseball team began the season with 15 fresh- men and three sophomores. After the first six non-league games, their record was a very unimpressive 2 wins and 4 losses. The Red Bluff JVs had won or shared four consecutive league championships coming into the season, but early in 2014, a fifth consecutive title looked unlikely. Midseason the team came to- gether with wins over West Val- ley, Enterprise, Yreka and Chico behind the rallying cry of "base- ball." Entering the last week of the season, the Red Bluff JVs were two games behind archri- val Shasta with three to play, all against Shasta. The first two games were played in Red Bluff on May 6. With the locals trail- ing 2-1 in the sixth inning of Game 1, the team strung together four consecutive hits by Kolby Button, Bryce Sinclair, Loen Langley and Travis Fite to take a 3-2 lead that proved to be the winning score. Starting pitcher Button allowed one hit and retired 13 of the last 14 batters. In the nightcap, the Spartans prevailed 17-12 with Eric Spen- cer, Sinclair and Langley pound- ing out three hits each. Wes Claw- son, Deonte Antolin and Button each had two. With the teams tied for the league lead, they played their fi- nal game of the season at Shasta High School on May 9. With the score knotted at zero in the top of the sixth inning, starting pitcher Sinclair singled. After Antolin was subbed in as a pinch run- ner, Langley singled and Fite hit a groundball forcing Langley at second base. With two outs and runners at first and third base, Fite stole second base, and on the errant throw Antolin scored from third to give Red Bluff a 1-0 lead. Button pitched the final three in- nings for the 1-0 win and the 2014 Red Bluff Spartan JV baseball team had won its fifth consecu- tive league championship (13-9, 8-4 Sac River League). For the season, the team was led by pitchers Sinclair and But- ton, each having a 5-2 record. Batting over .400 were Lang- ley, Clawson and Austin Young- blood. JV BASEBALL RED BLUFF JV TEAM CLAIMS SRL TITLE SpartanssweepShastainfinalseriesto finish 8-4 in Sac River League games The 2014Red Bluff Spartans junior varsity baseball team was (from back le ) coach George Moran, Dimitre Kent, Ian Hoskins, Eric Spencer, Loen Langley, Austin Youngblood, Kegan Richards, Deonte Antolin, Wes Clawson, Dustin Crain, Bryce Sinclair, Kolby Button, James Chrasta, coach Chuy Ramirez, Michael Chapman, Dillon Garcia, Evan Tanner, Sampson Nigra, Casey Moore and Travis Fite Diners could soon see calorie counts on the menus of chain restaurants. But will they be able to get that same clear information at grocery stores, convenience stores, movie theaters or airplanes? FOOD Where will new calorie labels appear? FULL STORY ON PAGE B4 The Associated Press DANVILLE RohanDennisofAus- tralia bolted to the front within the final 300 yards to win the hot and hilly third stage and reduce Bradley Wiggins' race lead at the Tour of California on Tuesday. Dennis, 23 (Garmin-Sharp), who began the stage in second with a 44-second deficit to Wig- gins, completed the 108.5-mile road race to Mt. Diablo in 4 hours, 56 minutes and 2 seconds. Wiggins (Sky) of Britain, who assumed the race lead with his dominating Stage 2 time trial win in Folsom, finished ninth in the stage, trailing the leader by 20 seconds. Wiggins, the 2012 Tour de France winner who's compet- ing in the event for the first time since 2008, leads Dennis by 24 seconds with five stages left. "This is the first time I have ridden in this type of heat in al- most two years," said Wiggins, who faltered in the waning me- ters. "It takes an adjustment. Ac- tually, I am a bit knackered from it." Tiago Machado (NetApp-En- dura) of Portugal was second in Stage 3, trailing Dennis by 6 sec- onds. American Lawson Craddock (Giant-Shimano) was third, an- other 2 seconds back, in the TOUR OF CALIFORNIA Dennis wins Stage 3, trims Wiggins' race lead RACE PAGE 2 TOUR PAGE 2 By Rich Greene rgreene@redbluffdailynews.com @richgreenenews on Twitter REDBLUFF Thunder Shaffer is an individual league champion. Ever since Shaffer stepped onto the tennis courts at Red Bluff High School four years ago that state- ment has seemed like a foregone conclusion, however, it took until Monday for it to become true. And it was either Monday or never for Shaffer, a senior who had reached the individual league championship final all four years of his high school career. Freshman As a freshman Shaffer seemed destined to take home the Eastern Athletic League-South title. He led Red Bluff all year and cruised into the individual cham- pionship final. But across the court was Red Bluff teammate Cody Yarbrough. It was Yarbrough's senior year and he didn't want to graduate without a league title of his own. Yarbrough handed Shaffer a 6-3, 6-2 loss. The two would later go on to win the league's doubles title, beating two more Spar- tans, Paul Hen- dricks and C.J. Varner. "When it's your senior year you have this drive to push yourself even further," Shaffer said Tuesday after- noon of his own victory, but words that probably reflect back to his de- feat to a senior his freshman year. Shaffer said the loss didn't bother him much at the time as he figured he still had time to win one or even two league titles with three years left in school. "He was just a freshman. He was happy,"RedBlufftenniscoachStan Twitchell said of Shaffer reaching the final in his first year. The 2011 tennis season ended with Shaffer the odds-on favor- ite to capture the title in 2012, but something happened. Sophomore Actually someone happened. Igor Minarik, a Slovakian ex- change student, came to Red Bluff High School. Minarik wasn't just good at the high school level, he was good at every level. Shaffer ended up taking a back- seat to Minarik that year. It didn't turn out to be that bad. As a team the Spartans became Northern Section champions. Minarik and Shaffer were a dominant 1-2 and nearly unbeat- able when paired together. They took the league doubles ti- tle, once again beating Hendricks and Varner, and went on to grab the section title as well. The EAL-South individual championship once again came down to Spartan versus Spartan. But as Twitchell bluntly put it, Shaffer didn't have a chance. Minarik won 7-5, 6-1 and Shaffer would have to wait another year. Junior As a junior Shaffer continued his excellent play and reached the Sac River League final where he met an up-and-coming sensation in Enter- prise freshman Jon Champe. It might have been Shaffer's PREP BOYS TENNIS Thefourthtime'sthecharm Red Bluff's Shaffer wins Sac River League tennis championship to cap off senior season Shaffer SHAFFER PAGE 2 SPORTS » redbluffdailynews.com Wednesday, May 14, 2014 MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B1