With 'new life on the dirt,' Cistron heads Del Mar's Bing Crosby

A field of eight was entered Wednesday morning for Saturday’s $300,000 Bing Crosby, the first of two Grade 1 stakes on the weekend and six overall at Del Mar during the summer meeting.

The six-furlong main track event, which often determines the sprint champion of the meeting and is a “Win and You’re In” qualifier for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint, attracted Air Strike and Cistron, the 1-2 finishers from the Triple Bend (G2) at Santa Anita in May.

Cistron, a 5-year-old Kentucky-bred owned by Hronis Racing, won the 6 ½-furlong Kona Gold (G2), also at Santa Anita, two starts back by 5 ½ lengths and was tagged near the wire by Air Strike in the Triple Bend.

The last two starts over the main track were a change in surface from what the son of The Factor had experienced for most of his career.

“He’s kinda found new life on the dirt,” trainer John Sadler said. “He was running good race on grass and we switched him to the dirt and he won easily. He’s a pretty versatile horse who has really found his form the last couple starts, so we’ll keep him sprinting on the dirt.

"There’s good spacing between his races and he has trained up for this one just super.”

The Kona Gold represents Cistron's only graded stakes win in what has so far been a 26-race career, but he's only once missed the exacta in his last five starts, rounding into form for Hronis Racing.

Additionally, five runners shipping in from the Midwest or East, among them Recruiting Ready, a Grade 3 winner, and Jalen Journey, second last out in Gulfstream Park's Smile Sprint (G3).

The field from the rail: Calexman (Geovanni Franco), Desert Law (Rafael Bejarano), Cistron (Victor Espinoza), Line Judge (Drayden Van Dyke), Air Strike (Norberto Arroyo, Jr.), Chief Cicatriz (Ruben Fuentes), Recruiting Ready (Flavien Prat) and Jalen Journey (Mike Smith).