DEL MAR The first post-Breeders’ Cup stakes race of Del Mar’s 11th fall season goes off Saturday afternoon without the horse that won it the past two years.
The Chosen Vron is out for at least the next three months after being scratched from the Breeders’ Cup Sprint by a veterinarian’s decision.
It was a very minor blip that was blown way out of proportion,” trainer J. Eric Kruljac said Friday of the ruling that led to The Chosen Vron being scratched a week before the Breeders’ Cup.
“He will not need surgery. But I was advised to give him some time off. We’ll bring him back into training after three more months. When he returns, I think he’ll be gangbusters.”
And that return could be Del Mar’s 2025 summer meeting.
“That’s the plan,” said Kruljac. “I’d like to keep him off the track at Santa Anita. The comments I made about taking him out of the country were out of frustration over the call to keep him out of the Breeders’ Cup.
“I plan for him to be back at Del Mar next summer as a 7-year-old and seek a three-peat.”
The Grade I Bing Crosby Stakes are scheduled for late July at Del Mar. The Chosen Vron won the Bing Crosby in both 2023 and last summer with Hector Berrios aboard.
“The Crosby is special to me and (at six furlongs) perfect for the horse,” said the trainer. “I love the races named after the founders of this track and the personalities who helped make it famous. I love that The Chosen Vron has twice won the Crosby and the Grant.”
Which might be one of the reasons why The Chosen Vron came back just two weeks after running fifth in the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Sprint to win a second straight Cary Grant Stakes at seven furlongs.
Perhaps the region’s most popular thoroughbred, The Chosen Vron, a Cal-bred gelding, has won 19 of 25 career starts with two second-place finishes and two third-place finishes. He has earned $1.7 million.
Big City Lights — the runner-up in the 2022 and 2023 editions of the Cary Grant — is the 7-5 morning-line favorite for Saturday’s seven-furlong test on the dirt for older Cal-bred horses.
A 5-year-old son of Mr. Big, Big City Lights is trained by Richard Mandella. Big City Lights has won five of 11 career starts while finishing fourth to The Chosen Vron in four races. Big City Lights has finished in the money in all 11 of his starts.
This weekend’s two features are both seven-furlong, $100,000 stakes for Cal-bred horses with the Betty Grable for older fillies and mares scheduled for Sunday.
Minus Hernandez
Juan Hernandez is seeking a fifth straight Del Mar jockey title during the fall meeting. But he will be playing catch-up.
Hernandez is missing the first two days of this weekend while serving a two-day suspension for a whip violation on the opening day of the fall meeting. Hernandez won two races during the opening weekend.
Antonio Fresu, who won one race Friday (Bessie Coleman in the second, $6.20) is the early fall meeting leader with five wins.
Winning tune
Song of Shadows led wire-to-wire to win Friday’s feature, a five-furlong turf sprint for older Cal-bred fillies and mares. Ridden by Tiago Pereira, Song of Shadows paid $6.40 for finishing 1¼ lengths ahead of favorite Proof She Zips (Umberto Rispoli), who was in second all the way.
Song of Shadows was the second winner of the day for trainer Steven Miyadi, who also scored with Bessie Coleman.