The Chosen Vron headed straight to Bing Crosby for title defense

ARCADIA, Calif. – The Chosen Vron, a 17-time stakes winner who was the 2023 California-bred Horse of the Year, is on schedule for the Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes at six furlongs at Del Mar on July 27.

A 6-year-old gelding, The Chosen Vron was nominated for Saturday’s $100,000 Bertrando Stakes at a mile on dirt for California-breds at Los Alamitos, but is not among the six entries for the race.

“We’re going to go straight into the Bing Crosby,” co-owner and trainer Eric Kruljac said earlier this week.

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The Chosen Vron won his fifth consecutive stakes in the Thor’s Echo Stakes for statebreds at six furlongs at Santa Anita on May 25 in his most recent start. Kruljac said the time between the Thor’s Echo and the $400,000 Bing Crosby Stakes will help The Chosen Vron.

“The main thing is going in fresh,” Kruljac said. “I think he would run his best race. We want to defend our title.”

The Chosen Vron won the most prestigious race of his career in the 2023 Bing Crosby. He finished fifth in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Santa Anita last November, a loss that ended an eight-race winning streak. The Chosen Vron has not lost since the BC Sprint.

The Bertrando is the leading race on Saturday’s nine-race program on the opening day of the Los Alamitos summer meeting. The field consists of Don’t Fight the Fed, Dick Best, Cowboy Mike, None Above the Law, Tom Horn, and Lovesick Blues.

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