DEL MAR — The Chosen Vron came through.
Arabian Knight didn’t.
Handled masterfully by jockey Hector Berrios, The Chosen Vron scored a sixth straight win while easily winning the $400,000 Grade I Bing Crosby for the second straight year at Del Mar.
The victory earned The Chosen Vron a return trip to the Breeders’ Cup Sprint. A fifth-place finish in that race last November is the only loss for the 6-year-old son of Vronsky in the gelding’s last 15 races. The Chosen Vron, the Cal-bred Horse of the Year for 2023, has 19 wins in 24 career starts.
The Chosen Vron, who went off as the 3-2 favorite in the field of seven in the six-furlong sprint on the main track, coasted to a 2¼-length win over Closethegame Sugar.
Meanwhile, defending Pacific Classic champion Arabian Knight, who went off as the 2-5 favorite, finished fourth in a field of five in the $300,000 Grade II, 1 1/16-mile San Diego Handicap — won impressively by Dr. Venkman.
But not as impressive as The Chosen Vron’s victory.
“He was marvelous,” Berrios said of The Chosen Vron. “From the three-eighths pole I let him go and he went himself.”
“I didn’t say anything to Hector,” said trainer J. Eric Kruljac. “I have that much faith in him. When it was time to go, he went. The other horses tried to keep up with him. He just wouldn’t let them. It’s one of his best races.”
Trained by Mark Glatt, Dr. Venkman, a 4-year-old son of Ghostzapper, was making only his fifth career start and going two turns (and more than seven furlongs) for the first time.
Fresu positioned Dr. Venkman outside and just behind Arabian Knight down the backstretch, then moved into the lead on the far turn and held the lead to the finish, winning by a length over long shot Katonah with Express Train, coming off a long lay-off, another 3¾ lengths back in third.
“Dr. Venkman has speed, so the plan was to use it,” said Fresu. “The question was could he go this far. We stayed close to Arabian Knight, then picked him up on the turn. Good win for sure.”
“Antonio pushed the button at the right time,” said Glatt. “I was pretty confident around the quarter pole. I thought we had more horse than the pacesetter. Then it just the question of getting on by him. He wandered a bit in the stretch but ran great.”
“No excuses for him today,” jockey Juan Hernandez said of Arabian Knight, who was making his first start since placing sixth in the Breeders’ Cup Classic last Nov. 4 at Santa Anita. “We used his speed, of course, and I tried to open up with him but it just wasn’t there. He probably needed the race.”
Trainer Bob Baffert had said he had unsuccessfully tried to find a race for Arabian Knight before the end of the Santa Anita season.
Trainer Phil D’Amato’s Connie Swingle and Elm Drive finished 1-2, respectively, in Saturday’s third stakes race — the $100,000 Daisycutter Handicap, a five-furlong sprint on the turf for older fillies and mares.
Under Kyle Frey, Connie Swingle ($11.20), a 5-year-old daughter of Grazen, picked up a total of $78,000 as a Cal-bred winner. She finished 1¾ lengths ahead of favorite Elm Drive (Fresu) as the two D’Amato horses powered by leaders Itzel and Stay and Scam in the stretch.
Gold Phoenix won the Grade II Eddie Read Stakes last summer en route to being named the top grass horse of the 2023 meeting. He also won the Grade II Del Mar Handicap later in the meeting.
The 6-year-old gelding returns Sunday to defend his Read title coming off a win in the May 4 Grade II Charles Whittingham Stakes at Santa Anita.
But it won’t be easy.
Nine older horses with graded stakes wins on their resumes are entered in the $250,000, 11/8-mile turf test. In fact, Gold Phoenix, at 6-1, is only the fourth-favorite in the morning-line odds behind Johannes (2-1), Du Jour (5-2) and Easter (4-1).
Trained by Tim Yakteen, Johannes will be looking for a third straight stakes win (and a fifth win in five starts) under Umberto Rispoli. The most recent win for the 4-year-old son of Nyquist was the Grade I Shoemaker Mile at Santa Anita on May 27.
Du Jour finished third in the Shoemake Mile after winning the Grade I Kilroe at Santa Anita on March 3. The 6-year-old gelding is trained by Baffert and will have Juan Hernandez up.
Trainer Phil D’Amato will have three horses in the Read: Gold Phoenix, Easter (Fresu) and Balnikhov (Kazushi Kimura).
Easter finished sixth in the Shoemaker and second in the Kilroe after three straight wins, including the Grade IIs Seabiscuit Handicap at Del Mar last November and the San Gabriel at Santa Anita last December. Both those wins were under Fresu.
Jockey Geovanni Franco withdrew from his rides Saturday after being tossed along the inside rail by Smooth Salute in Friday’s fifth race. Franco had precautionary X-rays but apparently suffered no major injuries.
