The Chosen Vron

This year's Breeders' Cup had a touch of deja vu all over again thanks to a series of veterinary scratches in the lead up to the event, some of which didn't exactly sit well with connections. The one that perhaps garnered the most attention is Californian flag-bearer The Chosen Vron's (Vronsky) removal from the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint on official veterinary advice. The horse's connections initially disputed the scratch, arguing he was 100% sound. It later transpired The Chosen Vron had a small ankle problem that necessitated a few months...

Fan favorite The Chosen Vron (Vronsky), scratched from the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint last weekend, will be turned out for several months after an issue was detected in his ankle. "We'll take it one step at a time," trainer J. Eric Kruljac said. "We'll give him four months off and then bring him back. I feel pretty good that he'll come back the same horse." California's reigning Horse of the Year, the 6-year-old has won 19 of his 25 career trips to the post to date and, after finishing fifth...

Keeneland has supplemented 10 horses, including two-time winning juvenile Delightful Flame (Flameaway), to its Horses of Racing Age Sale which begins at noon ET on Thursday, Nov. 14, the auction company said in a release Thursday. A total of 221 horses have been catalogued to the single-session auction and most will be stabled at Keeneland in Barns 18-26 with some being offered remotely from their training locations. Additional supplements will be considered until the day of the sale. Internet and phone bidding will be available. Delightful Flame is a 2-year-old...

Two-time GI Bing Crosby Stakes winner The Chosen Vron (Vronsky), who holds a 'Win and You're In' berth for the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint Nov. 2, will bypass the race, according to a report by Zoe Cadman on X. Cadman, part of the team who hosts the TDN Writers' Room Podcast, attributed the news to The Chosen Vron's co-owner John Sondereker. The Chosen Vron won six straight after a fifth behind champion Elite Power (Curlin) in last year's Breeders' Cup Sprint and most recently finished second by a neck in...

Trainer Philip D'Amato sent out a quintet Saturday morning at Santa Anita Park, with three confirmed as pre-entries for the Breeders' Cup after their works, on a busy morning for World Championship hopefuls across the country. From his three confirmed, GSW Iron Man Cal (Collected) worked four furlongs in :49 flat, and will be pre-entered for the Juvenile Turf. GSW Thought Process (Collected) also went four panels in :49.80 and will target the Juvenile Fillies Turf. Argentinian Group 1-winner Che Evasora (Arg) (Greenspring) worked six furlongs in 1:15.80, and owns...

Saturday's GII Pat O'Brien Stakes at Del Mar was billed as a showdown between the top sprinter in the West, two-time GI Bing Crosby Stakes winner The Chosen Vron (Vronsky), and Senor Buscador (Mineshaft), winner of the world's richest race, the $20-million G1 Saudi Cup. The Chosen Vron toted a gaudy six-race win steak, while Senor Buscador was returning from a break after finishing third in the G1 Dubai World Cup. Despite the headlines, apparently Mark Davis and Great Friends Stable's Raging Torrent (c, 3, Maximus Mischief-Violent Wave, by Violence),...

For a horse that has won the richest race in the world, Saturday's $250,000 GII Pat O'Brien S. at Del Mar might not seem like an overly difficult spot. But when Senor Buscador (Mineshaft) heads to the post for Saturday's race, he probably won't be the favorite and there will no doubt be some wiseguys who throw him out altogether. The problems are threefold: He's not a seven-furlong horse; he will not have run for 147 days; he'll be facing the best sprinter on the West Coast in the California-bred...

Kentucky Downs Vice President of Racing Ted Nicholson may have the easiest job in racing, which he'll readily admit. Thanks to the popularity of the Historical Horse Racing Machines, he's got a boatload of money to spend. Every year, it's the same thing...he has to decide where and how to spend millions of dollars. How do you divide up the money and which races deserve a purse increase? "Business has been very strong on the gaming side," said Nicholson, this week's Green Group Guest of the Week on the TDN...

The Chosen Vron (Vronsky) exited his win in Saturday's GI Bing Crosby Stakes at Del Mar in fine shape and trainer Eric Kruljac is already thinking of options to get the classy Cal-bred to the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint. "He's doing super," Kruljac said Sunday morning. "He wasn't tired and cleaned up his feed. He looks like a million bucks." The Chosen Vron won his sixth straight race while successfully defending his Bing Crosby title. The race awarded the 6-year-old gelding an automatic berth in the Breeders' Cup Sprint. Last...

Kenny McPeek announced Saturday that his superstar 3-year-old filly Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) will make her next start in the Aug. 24 GI DraftKings Travers S. McPeek had kept the decision to himself for a few days, but no one should have been surprised when he picked the Travers. That's McPeek's style, to be bold, to embrace a challenge to think outside of the box. There's no trainer like him. He has pulled this trick off before, winning 2020 GI Preakness S. with the filly Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil). "I just...

In defending his title in Del Mar's GI Bing Crosby Stakes, The Chosen Vron (g, 6, Vronsky--Tiz Molly, by Tiz Wonderful) showed why he's the most popular California-bred in years, harkening back to other multiple Grade I winners from the Golden State the likes of California Chrome, Tiznow, and Best Pal. The Bing Crosby is a 'Win and You're In' for the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint in November, giving the popular chestnut another try and a fees-paid berth into the six-furlong championship race after finishing fifth last year. Closethegame Sugar...

Trainer Chad Brown has long stated that a victory in the GI Travers S., not far from home in Mechanicville, would be one of the crowning moments of what will be a Hall of Fame career. 'TDN Rising Star' Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) is the barn's main hope for the centerpiece of the Saratoga meeting and he can take one giant step towards fulfilling his trainer's dream as the likely favorite in Saturday's GII Jim Dandy Stakes. The colt, who topped the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale not far from the...