The Chosen Vron has no problem with Affirmed Stakes' distance

ARCADIA, Calif. – Two turns? No problem.

The Chosen Vron, a stakes-winning sprinter running in a route race for the first time Sunday at Santa Anita, rallied from last to score a decisive victory in the 1 1/16-mile Grade 3 Affirmed Stakes for 3-year-olds by 1 1/4 lengths over Defunded.

Betting favorite Classier did not break well, chased from third, and sputtered. He finished 11 lengths behind his Bob Baffert-trained stablemate Defunded. Mr. Impossible and Jimmy Irish finished fourth and fifth, completing the order of finish.

Eric Kruljac trains The Chosen Vron ($5.20), ridden by Umberto Rispoli. Kruljac expected the California-bred gelding would establish a forward position exiting a series of sprint races, but instead he dropped to the rear of the field.

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“I thought he’d show more natural speed, but they sent a couple horses real hard,” Kruljac said. “Umberto took the initiative … he rated the horse with a lot of faith. Did you see how much kickback he had on him? He runs through it.”

With four wins from only five starts, The Chosen Vron is developing into a consummate professional. “He switched off for me,” Rispoli said. “He understood right away when there were horses around him, he was very relaxed.”

The Chosen Vron settled in last, inched closer into the far turn and, Rispoli said, when he went past the horse in third (Classier), “he knew it was business time.”

He still had work to do, because pacepresser Defunded had kicked away at the quarter pole. The Chosen Vron went after the leader, collared Defunded at the sixteenth pole, and won going away in a strong 1:44.01 final time.

Classier, making his first start since the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, misfired after the slow start. “He lost his hind coming out of the gate,” jockey Flavien Prat said. “It was bad enough to not make the lead. I thought I had horse, but when I asked him to go, he did not respond.”

Although the two-turn win by The Chosen Vron opens up options for the son of Vronsky, Kruljac plans to shorten him up for his next start. That will be July 30 at Del Mar in the $175,000 Real Good Deal Stakes, a seven-furlong sprint for Cal-bred 3-year-olds.

The Chosen Vron has won four races and $270,600 from five starts. His win Sunday was his third in a stakes race, following sprint wins in the Grade 3 Lazaro Barrera and Echo Eddie Stakes for California-breds.

Rideforthecause wins Possibly Perfect

In the supporting stakes one race earlier, Rideforthecause ($16) upset heavily favored Dogtag by a head in the $82,900 Possibly Perfect, a 1 1/4-mile turf race for fillies and mares.

Dogtag, who won the 2020 Possibly Perfect and started as 1-2 favorite, pressed the pace and seemingly had the race won when she kicked away into the stretch. Rideforthecause, given a perfect trip by jockey Mario Gutierrez, positioned third behind the speed, took aim, and was up late. The final time was 2:02.45.

Neige Blance finished third.

Michael McCarthy trains Rideforthecause, winner of the Grade 2 Canadian Stakes last year at Woodbine while trained by Gail Cox. Rideforthecause, a 5-year-old by Candy Ride, has won five races and $366,066 from 15 starts.