Although he took intense pace pressure to the three sixteenths pole, heavily favored The Chosen Vron managed to dig deep and find more when it counted as he held off a late charging Big City Lights by a neck to win Saturday's $150,000 Don Valpredo California Cup Sprint at Santa Anita.
Ridden by Hector Berrios and trained by Eric Kruljac, The Chosen Vron got six furlongs in 1:08.96.
The first of five state-bred stakes on Cal Cup Day at Santa Anita, the Cal Cup Sprint is part of the lucrative CTBA-sponsored Golden State Series for California-bred or sired runners.
Although Berrios said following the race that his intention was not to go to the early lead, that's where The Chosen Vron took him from his number four post position and he was immediately engaged to his outside by Resilient and the pair went head and head through scintillating early fractions of :22.07, :44.36 and :56.60.
Three sixteenths out, the winner eased clear by a half length, but Richard Mandella's Big City Lights, two off the lead at the quarter pole, was flying late under Juan Hernandez and with a sixteenth of a mile to run, the Sprint outcome was very much in doubt.
A 5-year-old gelding by Vronsky, The Chosen Vron, who had won his last three races, all state-bred stakes, was off as the 2-5 favorite in a field of six older horses and paid $2.80 to triumph as the heavy favorite.
Owned by Sondereker Racing LLC, Eric Kruljac, Robert Fetkin, and Richard Thornburgh, The Chosen Vron, who won a pair of graded stakes at age 3, now has a total of eight stakes wins to his credit. Bred by Tiz Molly Partners, The Chosen Vron is out of the Tiz Wonderful mare Tiz Molly.
With Saturday's winner's share of $90,000, The Chosen Vron increased his earnings to $612,678 from an overall mark of 9-1-2 from 13 starts.
Big City Lights, the second choice at 2-1, paid $2.20 and $2.10 while finishing 3 ½ lengths clear of Resilient.
Breaking from the far outside under Diego Herrera, Resilient, a lightly raced 6-year-old gelding, was the longest shot in the field at 21-1 and paid $3.40 to show.
DON VALPREDO CALIFORNIA CUP SPRINT STAKES QUOTES
JOCKEY QUOTES
HECTOR I BERRIOS, THE CHOSEN VRON, WINNER: “Today he handled pressure from the inside and outside. Maybe at the end he was a little tired from the early pressure, but he showed a lot of heart.
“He's a good horse, and maybe with more distance he will be a bit more comfortable and it'll be much better.”
JUAN HERNANDEZ, BIG CITY LIGHTS, SECOND PLACE: “That was a little tight, but I knew I didn't catch the other horse. I liked my horse and the way he raced today. I can always trust him to go to the lead, but today he broke a step low. When I asked him to pull back a little bit with me, he responded, relaxed, and finished really well. We just couldn't catch the winning horse.”
TRAINER QUOTES
J. ERIC KRULJAC, THE CHOSEN VRON, WINNER: “It was kind of a different spot for him to be on the lead, and he was focusing on the other horse. I think he responded just in time not to get beat, but the rider (Hector Berrios) thought he had something left galloping out. It was just different tactics that Hector chose to use. We broke so well, and we avoided traffic, we hooked a horse (Resilient) that was very determined pretty much the whole way. And a little shout out to Richard Mandella, 'Richard, You're getting closer! That three-year-old is a nice horse.'
“Good 3-year-olds are hard to come by, they are very few and far between. I'm getting old and it's been a while since I've had a good horse. It is just a combination of physical talent and intestinal fortitude and intelligence too and he has it all.
“We plan to not put him up against too much, I mean eventually we will have to try again, but he is better now than he was when he ran in the Pat O'Brien, that was a deep loose track and he doesn't like that. So, we just enjoy them one at a time.”
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