The Chosen Vron changes strategy in winning Cal Cup Sprint
ARCADIA, Calif. – The winning margin was closer than expected, and tactics employed by The Chosen Vron were somewhat surprising, but the result was exactly what bettors anticipated from the odds-on favorite in the $150,500 California Cup Sprint on Saturday at Santa Anita.
The Chosen Vron ($2.80) won his fourth consecutive Cal-bred stakes race when he popped the gate in the Cal Cup Sprint, took pressure from both sides, shook off his pace rivals and held by a neck over Big City Lights. The final time over a fast track was 1:08.96.
It was a different trip than normal. “Today he handled pressure from the inside and outside,” jockey Hector Berrios said. “Maybe at the end he was a little tired from the early pressure, but he showed a lot of heart.”
Eric Kruljac trains The Chosen Vron; Berrios has ridden him each of his four sprints. “It was just different tactics (Berrios) chose to use because he broke so well,” Kruljac said. “He avoided traffic.”
However, The Chosen Vron did not avoid a pace duel. I’ll Stand Taller had brief speed inside, Resilient pressured The Chosen Vron from the outside through fractions of 22.07 and 44.36. Turning for home, The Chosen Vron kicked away and led by two lengths at the eighth pole as Big City Lights narrowed the margin. He was never going to get there.
“Hector said he had another gear,” trainer Kruljac said regarding The Chosen Vron, who has won nine races and $612,678 from 13 starts. A 5-year-old gelding sired by Vronsky, The Chosen Vron has won sprinting and routing, on turf and dirt. Few horses are as versatile.
“They’re few and far between,” Kruljac said. “They come around once in a while.”
Berrios believes The Chosen Vron is more comfortable when he sets or presses slower fractions at longer distances. Kruljac said that opportunity will present itself soon enough.
“We’ll let him tell us when he’s ready, and most likely we’ll have to jump up into open company or maybe a Grade 2 or Grade 3.”
Kruljac is co-owner of The Chosen Vron with majority owner John Sondereker, Robert Fetkin and Richard Thornburgh.
The Cal Cup Sprint was the first of five stakes races for California-breds on Saturday at Santa Anita.
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