Vronti takes long route to CTT-TOC win

DEL MAR, Calif. - To reach the winner’s circle of Saturday’s $102,500 CTT-TOC Stakes, Vronti was flown from Maryland to California on Wednesday, a trip that included a four-hour layover in Memphis. In the race, Vronti closed with a sharp rally through the stretch to reach the front of the race of the turf marathon in the final sixteenth.

The lengthy flight was the only option to get Vronti from trainer Graham Motion’s base in Maryland.

The race tactics were the subject of a pre-race conversation among Motion, jockey Umberto Rispoli, and Irad Ortiz Jr., who rode Vronti to a good second-place finish in an allowance race at Saratoga on July 19.

“They came up with a plan,” Motion’s assistant Alice Clapham said. “I think she might have been farther back than we thought, but it went well.”

Closing from seventh, Vronti won by a length, squeezing between rivals late.

Sent off favored, Vronti ($5) ran 1 3/8 miles in 2:15.38.

The Mizen Queen (8-1) finished second after appearing to lead briefly in the final furlong. She finished a head in front of 7-1 Kentucky Gal.

Resolve finished fourth, followed by Innovative, Roselee May, Lubie’s Music, Cailin Dana, Pulp Fiction and Candy Bar. Lubie’s Music was always near the front, and led in early stretch before fading.

Pulp Fiction set a modest pace of 48.73 seconds for a half-mile and 1:13.43, leading by a length. Vronti trailed Pulp Fiction by nine lengths after a half-mile.

“We knew there would be a little bit of a slow pace,” Clapham said.

Vronti, a 4-year-old British-bred filly by Night of Thunder, won her first stakes, and for the third time in her last five starts, in the CTT-TOC Stakes.

Vronti, who races for owner and breeder Andrew Stone, was winless in four starts in Britain in 2025. She has won 3 of 6 starts since joining Motion’s stable in late 2025. In February and April, Vronti won consecutive starts in a maiden race at Tampa Bay Downs and an allowance race at Keeneland.

The CTT-TOC was her second stakes appearance, both in California. In May, Vronti was fifth of eight at 11-1 in the Grade 1 Gamely Stakes for fillies and mares at 1 1/8 miles on turf at Santa Anita.

Vronti is a half-sister to the Motion-trained Heredia, who won the Grade 2 Yellow Ribbon Stakes at Del Mar in 2025.

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