Listenupshance bound for Bing Crosby
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Listenupshance, a former $20,000 claimer who finished third in the Grade 3 True North Stakes at Saratoga last Saturday, is scheduled to start in the Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes at Del Mar on July 25.
“I think it’s a strong possibility,” trainer Doug O’Neill said on Thursday.
Listenupshance was beaten three-quarters of a length by 2025 champion male sprinter Book’em Danno in the $400,000 True North at 6 1/2 furlongs and was a nose behind second-place finisher Bentornato, the winner of the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Del Mar last November.
Ridden by Antonio Fresu, Listenupshance broke slowly and raced within a half-length of the lead throughout. He was the 21-1 outsider in a field of six.
“I thought he ran lights-out,” O’Neill said. “He didn’t get the most perfect start. Antonio is convinced with a clean break he could have won.”
Owned by Run Fast Racing, Listenupshance has won 3 of 12 starts. Since joining O’Neill’s stable after being acquired privately, Listenupshance has won 2 of 8 starts and finished second or third in his last four races, including a second at 13-1 in the Grade 3 Palos Verdes Stakes at Santa Anita on Feb. 15.
“He’s been a warrior,” O’Neill said.
The $400,000 Bing Crosby is the richest annual sprint in California. The winner receives a fees-paid berth to the BC Sprint at Keeneland on Oct. 31.
Listenupshance is unbeaten in two starts on dirt at Del Mar – a $20,000 claiming race for maidens last July, in the start before he was acquired by Run Fast Racing and transferred to O’Neill, and a $50,000 claiming race last November.
The field for the Bing Crosby Stakes may include Roll On Big Joe, a five-time stakes winner who was second in the Grade 3 Aristides Stakes at Churchill Downs on May 30. Trainer Bob Hess Jr. said Roll On Big Joe’s participation in the Bing Crosby will be determined after the 6-year-old gelding’s scheduled start in the Grade 3 Bango Stakes at 6 1/2 furlongs at Churchill on June 27. The $275,000 Bango Stakes was previously run as the Kelly’s Landing Stakes, a race Roll On Big Joe won in 2025.
“I’d like to get a win in him,” Hess said. “If we think he’s good enough, we’ll run in the Bing.”
Roll On Big Joe, who was fifth in the 2025 Bing Crosby Stakes, won three consecutive stakes from early November to early February at Churchill and Oaklawn Park but has been second in his last two starts.
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