The Chosen Vron hard to beat in California Cup Sprint
ARCADIA, Calif. – Winter sprint stakes for California-breds have a new look Saturday at Santa Anita, where The Chosen Vron inherits star status on an all-California-bred program that is missing two familiar faces.
For the first time in three years, the California Cup Sprint and Sunshine Millions Filly and Mare Turf Sprint will not be won by Brickyard Ride and Leggs Galore. Neither entered the races they won in 2021 and 2022.
Instead, standout The Chosen Vron enters the California Cup Sprint (race 1) as the most likely winner of five Saturday stakes. A gelding with seven stakes wins including his last three starts, The Chosen Vron is so good he was cross-entered in two races Saturday and would be favored in either – the $150,000 California Cup Sprint and $200,000 Unusual Heat Turf Classic, race 10.
“We’re going in the Sprint,” trainer and co-owner Eric Kruljac said Thursday. “I think the [Turf Classic] would be easier, but it means running around a far turn that might be boggy. We’ll keep him with what he’s familiar with, and that’s a [dirt] sprint.”
Kruljac eventually plans to return The Chosen Vron to turf, but rain this week soaked the Santa Anita course. The Chosen Vron will wait for firm going. In the meantime, he can solidify his reputation as the circuit’s top California-bred sprinter, at least until Brickyard Ride returns.
Brickyard Ride has resumed workouts after minor surgery to remove a bone chip. He could return next month. Leggs Galore was expected to start favored in the $150,000 Sunshine Millions Filly and Mare Turf Sprint, race 6, but a setback prevented her from running. Leggs Galore bruised a foot on the training track this week, said trainer Phil D’Amato, adding she’ll be pointed to the Wishing Well on the hillside turf course Feb. 18.
A mandatory payout in the 20-cent pick six (races 5-10) is scheduled Saturday. The single-ticket jackpot into Friday was $250,578. The Saturday sequence includes the Filly and Mare Turf Sprint and a trio of $200,000 stakes – the California Cup Derby, race 7; California Cup Oaks, race 8; and Unusual Heat Turf Classic, race 10.
First post Saturday is noon, and The Chosen Vron is expected to be strongly favored in the California Cup Sprint over front-runner Big City Lights, stakes-placed Tigre Di Slugo, and stakes winner Finneus. Statebred allowance winners I’ll Stand Taller and Resilient also were entered.
The Chosen Vron won four of his first five starts, including a pair of Grade 3s, before his career stalled when he was found to have osteochondritis dissecans, an ailment that affects the joints. He resumed his career last summer and enters his 5-year-old season in peak form.
:: Get ready for Santa Anita racing with DRF Past Performances, Picks, and Clocker Reports.
“His workouts have been just been phenomenal,” Kruljac said, adding that he has been fortunate to train around the rain. “We haven’t missed a workout. It’s been a fair amount of time between races, but he’s had five breezes, every seven days like clockwork.”
The Chosen Vron won a California-bred sprint stakes in his most recent start Nov. 19 at Del Mar, defeating Big City Lights by more than three lengths and earning a career-high 102 Beyer. The Chosen Vron, whose majority owner is John Sondereker, has won eight races and $522,678 from 12 starts. His co-owners are Kruljac, Robert Fetkin, and Richard Thornburgh. Hector Berrios rides The Chosen Vron.
A cutback in distance from seven furlongs to six gives front-runner Big City Lights a shot to wire the field. Big City Lights, a two-time stakes winner who is 3 for 5 overall, was runner-up to The Chosen Vron at seven furlongs and a mile in his last two starts. Juan Hernandez rides and Richard Mandella trains Big City Light.
Tigre Di Slugo, California Cup Sprint runner-up two years ago, will be running late in his first start since a minor setback last summer.
While the California Cup Sprint includes a standout in The Chosen Vron, the second sprint stakes Saturday is deep. Alice Marble and Eddie’s New Dream are the leading contenders in the Sunshine Millions Filly and Mare Sprint.
The D’Amato-trained Alice Marble, a two-time California-bred stakes winner, is owned and was bred by Nick Alexander. She will be ridden by Flavien Prat.
Eddie’s New Dream won the California Distaff Handicap on the hill in October, then took a shot in the Grade 1 Matriarch and finished eighth. Trained by Ben Cecil, Eddie’s New Dream benefits Saturday by softer company and a return to a sprint.
Other contenders in the Sunshine Millions Filly and Mare Turf Sprint are La Deuxieme Etoile, an allowance winner 12 days ago; late-running course specialist Kleen Karma; and stakes-placed Taming the Tigress. The field also includes Big Summer, Bella D, Sunshine Babe, and Tam’s Little Angel.
:: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.