2024 Eclipse Awards: The Chosen Vron

Winning is business as usual for The Chosen Vron.

He was a neck from a perfect campaign last year and for a season highlighted by a popular victory in the Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes at Del Mar, he is an Eclipse Award finalist as champion male sprinter of 2024.

The Chosen Vron has compiled a career record of 19 wins from 25 starts. He went 5 for 6 in 2024, winning five consecutive stakes races before finishing second by a neck in the Grade 2 Pat O’Brien on Aug. 24 at Del Mar.

The streak was actually part of a larger run of stakes success, as The Chosen Vron had won six straight dating back to November 2023.

And just as winning is the norm for The Chosen Vron, so is running fast. He launched his 2024 campaign by covering six furlongs in a rapid 1:09.06 in the California Cup Sprint on Jan. 13 at Santa Anita.

The Chosen Vron settled just off the pace and rolled home by 2 1/4-lengths under regular rider Hector Berrios. A few months into the season, it was announced The Chosen Vron was the California-bred horse of the year for 2023.

:: Full list of 2024 Eclipse Awards finalists, including profile stories

“He’s by far the most popular horse I’ve ever been associated with,” trainer Eric Kruljac said. “Let’s hope the ball keeps rolling.”

One start later, The Chosen Vron put up the first of four triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures he would earn in 2024. He took the Grade 3 San Carlos on March 16 at Santa Anita with a 101, covering seven furlongs in an eye-popping 1:20.96. The Chosen Vron followed up with a 102 Beyer in the track’s Kona Gold in April, a race in which he covered 6 1/2 furlongs in a blistering 1:14.82.

The Chosen Vron then reached a Beyer pinnacle in the Bing Crosby, earning a 105 after covering six furlongs in 1:08.99. The number ended up being tied for second-highest among all main-track Beyers in races up to a mile in 2024. The Chosen Vron was winning the Bing Crosby for the second year in a row, and darted to a 2 1/4-length victory in the July 27 renewal.

“I think it was his best performance,” Kruljac said. “He had so much left at the wire.”

The Chosen Vron earned his final triple-digit Beyer of the year in defeat, putting up a 104 in the Pat O’Brien. The seven-furlong race went in a smoldering 1:21.17. The Chosen Vron was attempting to win his seventh straight race and was 1-2 in the feature at Del Mar.

“He’s never trained any better than he trained here,” Kruljac said ahead of the race. “He had an incredible gallop. He’s amazing, just the mechanics he has.”

The Chosen Vron, one of the favorites for the Cygames Breeders’ Cup Sprint, was placed on the vet’s list for “unsoundness” following an Oct. 19 workout and was not allowed to enter. A subsequent MRI revealed a minor ankle injury. He has been given time off, with plans for a 2025 campaign as a 7-year-old.

A gelded son of Vronsky and the winning Tiz Wonderful mare Tiz Molly, The Chosen Vron was bred in California by Tiz Molly Partners and is owned by Sondereker Racing LLC, Kruljac, Robert Fetkin, and Richard Thornburgh.

The Chosen Vron’s campaign last year yielded earnings of $560,000. Overall, he has compiled a career bankroll of $1,709,678.

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