Zipse: Lovable Cal-bred The Chosen Vron forgets how to lose

Most everyone loves a winner, and if you do, I can’t think of a horse better to root for than The Chosen Vron.

In the same week when he was crowned the 2023 California-bred horse of the year, champion sprinter and champion older male, The Chosen Vron took to the track and earned the fourth graded-stakes victory of his career by scoring an extremely popular win in the Grade 3 San Carlos Stakes on Saturday at Santa Anita.

So popular was the victor that the consummate professional returned only $2.80 on a $2 win wager. You are never going to get rich by wagering on the star sprinter. He simply visits the winner’s circle too often to offer any real value at the windows.

Trained by Eric Kruljac, the gelded, 6-year-old son of Vronsky is a winning machine. With Saturday’s victory he raised his career record to a sparkling mark of 16 wins from 21 career starts with earnings just a hair below the $1.3 million mark.

It gets even better if you look at The Chosen Vron’s recent record. In fact, he has tasted defeat only once in his last dozen starts. This string of 11 wins from 12 starts started back in September 2022. His lone defeat in that stretch came against the very best in last fall’s $2 million Breeders’ Cup Sprint.

It’s worth noting that The Chosen Vron's most noteworthy victory came last summer at Del Mar, where the chestnut pro became a Grade 1 winner in a loaded edition of the Bing Crosby Stakes. Del Mar will be the host of the Breeders’ Cup this year.

At the time that first Grade 1 victory was his eighth consecutive win. Owned by the partnership of Sondereker Racing, Kruljac, Robert Fetkin and Richard Thornburgh, his winning streak would come to an end when he was beaten by the two-time champion Elite Power in the Breeders’ Cup last year at Santa Anita.

Soon after his loss in the world championships, The Chosen Vron embarked on a new winning streak, which stands at three after his score Saturday. The San Carlos was typical for the chestnut who clearly does not like to lose.

He can win from on the lead, stalking the pace or from farther back. On Saturday he broke from the rail and went right to the front under regular rider Héctor Berrios.

With one lightly raced and talented sprinter testing him early and then another one late, The Chosen Vron made it look familiarly easy while sprinting home in 1:20.96 for the seven furlongs.

This year there will be no Elite Power to worry about since the champion son of Curlin resides at stud. And with the Breeders’ Cup staying in Southern California, don’t be surprised if The Chosen Vron is the one to beat at Del Mar on Nov. 2.

While many of our best horses are ushered quickly off to stud before they even make double-digit starts, this modestly bred gelding keeps going and going. 

Bred by the Tiz Molly Partners, he has started in 20 consecutive stakes races, winning 15 of them. In 2023 alone he collected six stakes victories.

Having opened his 6-year-old season with a routine victory in the $150,000 California Cup Sprint Stakes against fellow state-bred rivals in January, The Chosen Vron is 2-for-2 in a year that could end up with the loveable gelding winning an Eclipse Award as America’s best male sprinter.

Until then I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of him in the winner’s circle. Pretty heady stuff for the gelding who began his career with a win against state-bred maidens in the final week of his juvenile season.