With 14 victories in his last 15 races, California sprint sensation The Chosen Vron has little to atone for as he enters Saturday’s $250,000 Pat O’Brien Stakes (G2) at Del Mar.
The Chosen Vron. Benoit Photo
California Sprint Star looking to avenge 2022 Pat O’Brien loss
However, before his amazing run began, The Chosen Vron was a well-beaten fifth in the 2022 Pat O’Brien. The 6-year-old gelding gets a chance to avenge that rare loss against seven rivals, including $20 million Saudi Cup (G1) winner Senor Buscador, who finished in third in the ‘22 Pat O’Brien.
At the time, The Chosen Vron was sent off at 20-1 and Senor Buscador at 21-1. In Saturday’s edition of the 7-furlong sprint, The Chosen Vron is the 3-5 favorite and Senor Buscador is 5-1.
The Chosen Vron also has an opportunity to avenge his only other loss over the past two years after earning an automatic berth in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint (G1), where he finished fifth in 2023, by winning the Bing Crosby Stakes (G1).
Trained by co-owner Eric Krulijac, The Chosen Vron is currently on a six-race win streak, 5-0 in 2024. With Hector Berrios aboard, count on The Chosen Vron to stay close to the pace, and make his move to the front in the stretch. He may not win by much, but he gets the job done.
The field is far from an easy one. Let’s start with Senor Buscador. The 6-year-old son of Mineshaft returns from a five-month break after finishing third in the Dubai World Cup (G1) a month after pulling a huge upset in winning the Saudi Cup (G1) with a tremendous closing kick to beat the likes of Ushba Tesoro (by a head), White Abarrio, National Treasure and Derma Sotogake.
Joe Talamo has the call for the first time as Senor Buscador (19-7-2-3 for earnings of $12.7 million) competes at under a mile for the first time since the 2022 Pat O’Brien. Junior Alvarado was aboard for the races in Dubai and Saudi Arabia.
Happy Jack, trained by Doug O’Neill, finished sixth in the Bing Crosby, but previously won the 7-furlong Triple Bend Stakes (G2) at Santa Anita in June in wire-to-wire fashion. Raging Torrent and Big City Lights also have stakes wins.
Post time for the Pat O’Brien, race 9, is 9:03 p.m. ET
For those who bet horse racing …
The picks: 1 The Chosen Vron 2 Raging Torrent 3 Happy Jack
The field for the $250,000 Pat O’Brien Stakes (G2), from the rail out, with jockey, trainer, odds:
1 Moose Mitchell (Jeremy Laprida, George Papaprodromou), 20-1
2 See Through It (Tiago Pereira, Genaro Vallejo), 30-1
3 Happy Jack (Edwin Maldanado, Doug O’Neill), 8-1
4 Raging Torrent (Antonio Fresu), Doug O’Neill), 6-1
5 Big City Lights (Kazushi Kimura, Richard Mandella), 10-1
6 The Chosen Vron (Hector Berrios, Eric Kruljac), 3-5
7 Senor Buscador (Joe Talamo, Todd Fincher), 5-1
8 Arrowthegreat (Victor Espinoza, Dan Blacker), 30-1