The Chosen Vron firing on all cylinders into Pat O'Brien

DEL MAR, Calif. – When the country’s top-ranked sprinter meets the country’s richest active racehorse on Saturday at Del Mar, the most likely winner is obvious.

The Chosen Vron seeks his seventh straight stakes victory in the Grade 2 Pat O’Brien, a seven-furlong sprint in which $12.6 million earner Senor Buscador returns from a five-month layoff. The knock on The Chosen Vron is low odds, for Senor Buscador it’s the layoff and closing style.

The field includes sharp 3-year-old Raging Torrent and his stakes-winning stablemate Happy Jack. The outsiders are Big City Lights, Moose Mitchell, See Through It, and Arrowthegreat.

The Chosen Vron would be the first horse in 15 years to sweep the six-furlong, Grade 1 Bing Crosby and Pat O’Brien. But even if his breezy victory last month earned a career-high 105 Beyer Speed Figure, trainer Eric Kruljac expects the same type performance Saturday.

“He’s never trained any better than he trained here,” Kruljac said at Del Mar, where The Chosen Vron posted a relaxed half-mile workout last Saturday and galloped with high energy this week. “He had an incredible gallop [Wednesday]. He’s amazing, just the mechanics he has.”

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The Chosen Vron, 19 for 24 in his career, has not lost since finishing fifth last fall in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Santa Anita. Kruljac is eager for a do-over. “We backed off him too much after the Bing Crosby last year; I was a little too soft in my training.” The Chosen Vron did not start between the Bing Crosby in July and the BC Sprint in November.

Kruljac will keep the screws tight this season by running The Chosen Vron in both Del Mar dirt sprint stakes. The last four Bing Crosby winners who ran in the Pat O’Brien lost. Since 2000, six of eight Bing Crosby winners in the Pat O’Brien regressed on figures. It’s a statistical curiosity.

From post 6, The Chosen Vron and jockey Hector Berrios figure for a pressing trip outside front-runner Raging Torrent. Both have a tactical edge over late-runner Senor Buscador.

Although the Pat O’Brien is a “Win and You’re In” for the BC Dirt Mile, that race is not an objective for The Chosen Vron or Senor Buscador.

Senor Buscador won the Grade 1, $20 million Saudi Cup in February and was third in the Grade 1, $12 million Dubai World Cup in March. The leading active money earner in the U.S., and 10th all-time for horses who made at least one U.S. start, Senor Buscador faces a tall order Saturday.

“He needs a race or two,” trainer Todd Fincher said. “He’s fit, he’s working well, and we’re happy where he’s at. But there’s nothing like a race. You can work ’em all you want, but you need a race or two just to get that real tightness in him and get his legs stronger.”

Joe Talamo is the new rider for Senor Buscador, who Fincher said will use the Pat O’Brien as a means to an end. “It’s just a progression,” Fincher said. “We’re building one race to the next.” If he runs well, the Grade 1 California Crown on Sept. 28 at Santa Anita is next, followed by the BC Classic at Del Mar.

Senor Buscador is pace-dependent. “He needs some help, a good pace, and a fair track, which has not been the case at Del Mar,” Fincher said. “It’s been very speed-biased this meet, but last week I thought it was, maybe, a little more fair. If the pace is slow, he’s going to be last. If the pace is fast, he’s going to be last.”

Senor Buscador will be rolling late, and Fincher said his final workout “was one of the best works I’ve seen him do.”

Doug O’Neill trains two upset candidates. The sharp 3-year-old Raging Torrent faces older for the first time and Happy Jack tries to rebound from his sixth in the Bing Crosby. Raging Torrent enters off two fast wins at seven furlongs in Kentucky. Older competition is tougher.

“We’re taking on older company, but he’s in his own backyard, he’s not shipping,” O’Neill said, recognizing the class hike from age-restricted races. “Three-year-olds this time of year are more mature and can step up against [older],” the trainer said.

Three-year-olds this century are 2 for 8 in the Pat O’Brien. Zensational in 2009, and The Factor in 2011, each won the Pat O’Brien over only four rivals. Antonio Fresu rides Raging Torrent, a potential pacesetter. Three of the four sprints this summer at seven furlongs were won by the pacesetter.

Happy Jack crushed the seven-furlong Grade 2 Triple Bend two starts back with a 105 Beyer, but subsequently bombed finishing sixth in the Bing Crosby early in the meet.

“That was such a head-scratcher,” O’Neill said, while pondering potential alibis. “Like everyone else, we shipped right down here, maybe didn’t settle in, ocean air, all those excuses.”

Whatever the reason, Happy Jack did not fire. But if he runs to his Triple Bend romp, O’Neill is correct to give him an upset chance. “He’s more settled in, he’s got that race under his belt. We’re optimistic we’re gonna see the Happy Jack from the races prior.”

Edwin Maldonado rides Happy Jack.

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