Despite their stable name, partners Perry Martin and Steve Coburn are nobody’s fools. The first-time horse breeders are on the ride of their lives, thanks to one brilliantly fast colt.

California Chrome enters this weekend among the favorites for the 2014 Kentucky Derby.Trained by Art Sherman, California Chrome gets his last prep Saturday in the $1 million Santa Anita Derby, the West Coast’s gateway to theTriple Crown.

“They turned down $6 million for the horse,” said Sherman, who at 77 hopes to have his first Derby starter. “We can’t wait to run!”

Martin, of Yuba City, and Coburn, of Topaz Lake, Nev., are longtime fans who took the plunge into horse ownership and breeding along with their wives. They started their stable with an $8,000 mare, Love the Chase. Martin and Coburn already owned 5 percent apiece of the mare as part of a syndicate. When that ownership group dissolved, they each wanted to buy Love the Chase outright but became partners instead.

“A groom walked by and said, ‘Anybody who buys this horse is a dumb ass,’ ” Martin recalled. “Steve and I shook hands; we’re the Dumb Ass Partners.”

California Chrome, the partners’ only race horse, is Love the Chase’s first foal. “DAP” graces his blinkers; a caricature of a jackass decorates his jockey’s green and purple silks. In nine starts, the colt has won five races – including three straight stakes – and almost $535,000. He’s already qualified for a slot in the Kentucky Derby on May 3.

In the Sport of Kings, these owners are just plain folks. Perry and Denise Martin own and operate Martin Testing Laboratories at the former McClellan Air Force Base in Sacramento. Steve Coburn works at a factory that makes magnetic strips for credit cards; his wife, Carolyn, is newly retired.

“We’re just everyday people,” Steve Coburn said. “I’m up at 4:30 every morning and in bed by 10.”

Said Perry Martin, “We’re trying to put (Derby fever) in its proper place. We can’t lose focus on everything else. We’ve got two businesses to run; the horse is our third business. But we’re really happy and excited.”

As shiny as a copper penny, California Chrome got his name because of his flashy looks: “Chrome” is horse talk for those eye-catching white feet and blaze. A California-bred by Lucky Pulpit, he was born at Harris Farms in Coalinga not far from the famous cattle ranch’s humongous feed lot on Interstate 5.

“He weighed 137 pounds when he was born – that’s big,” said Steve Coburn, adding they nicknamed the colt “Junior.”

“Actually, we’ve been pointing this colt to the (Kentucky) Derby since he hit the ground,” Coburn said. “I told my wife when we saw this horse the day after he was born, ‘We better hang on for this ride because it’s going to be a good one, and no matter what we have to do to keep him healthy and in the game, we’re going to do it.’ ”

Only three California-breds have won the Kentucky Derby: Morvich (1922), Swaps (1955) and Decidedly (1962). Sherman was Swaps’ exercise rider.

California Chrome’s birthplace doesn’t matter, Coburn said. “He has no clue where he was born.”

With jockey Victor Espinoza aboard, California Chrome likely will be favored in the Santa Anita Derby, the last step to their Derby dreams.

“I feel confident about him,” said Espinoza, who won the 2002 Kentucky Derby on War Emblem. “I think he’s going to run big. Of course, anything can happen, but I wouldn’t change positions with anybody.”