Art Sherman lives in a nice little house next to a picturesque golf course in San Diego.

From his porch, he can see men much younger than his 77 years chipping and putting happily along.

That retirement life is not for him.

"I wouldn't know what to do with myself," Sherman said after he became the oldest trainer to win the Kentucky Derby with California Chrome.

He was at a similar loss as to what to do with himself on Saturday (Sunday AEST) as he watched California Chrome with Victor Espinoza aboard cruise to victory.

"This has to be the sweetest moment of my life," he said. "To be my age and have something like this happen, what can you say?"

Lifetimes have started and ended in the decades since Sherman sat on a Derby winner, even if it was just in the mornings.

Back then he was an 18-year-old exercise rider aboard Swaps before beginning a 23-year career as a jockey.

He watched from the stable block as Swaps won the 1955 Kentucky Derby. Sherman was young then and had no idea that Derby winners don't enter and exit your life on a regular basis.

Nearly 60 years later, he was a winner again.

"This was a big moment for me," Sherman said.

"This is what every trainer wants to win. You always have it in the back of your mind: Can I win the Kentucky Derby? And now my name will be up there. I feel really blessed."

Sherman went to visit his old friend Swaps, buried at the Kentucky Derby Museum, on Thursday and said a little prayer.

Wearing a purple shirt in honour of California Chrome, Sherman sat on the podium after the race looking a little bit shocked.

He will return to his house next to the golf course. He'll still be the same man running a "family affair" training operation with his sons and a groom he's had working for him for more than 15 years.

"I'm just the same old Art Sherman," he said.

"Except I won the Kentucky Derby."