Brickyard Ride-The Chosen Vron showdown not a certainty

ARCADIA, Calif. - Together, the veteran California-breds Brickyard Ride and The Chosen Vron have won an astonishing 24 of 40 starts, including 17 stakes.

They have never met, and a rendezvous is far from a certainty at Santa Anita on Sunday when the track hosts five stakes for statebreds.

Brickyard Ride, the winner of 13 of 25 starts, is expected to run in the $100,000 Thor’s Echo Stakes at six furlongs, while The Chosen Vron is a candidate for that race and the $100,000 Crystal Water Stakes at a mile on turf.

Eric Kruljac, who trains and co-owns The Chosen Vron, was in no hurry to declare his intention on Sunday. The races will be drawn on Thursday.

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“We’ll go in one of them,” he said. “I don’t want to commit.”

If they stay apart, both will be heavily favored.

Brickyard Ride, trained by Craig Lewis, won the Grade 3 Kona Gold Stakes at 6 1/2 furlongs on April 22 for the second consecutive year, and his seventh stakes win.

The Chosen Vron has not raced since he won his sixth consecutive race, all in stakes, in the Sensational Star Stakes for statebreds at about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course on March 19.

Kruljac planned the gap between the Sensational Star and a late May return.

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