By Bloodhorse.com
ARCADIA, Calif. (May 29, 2024) – State-bred stakes usually give horses an option to obtain black type while ducking tougher competition they might encounter in graded stakes. The talented California-bred sprinter The Chosen Vron has turned that scenario upside down for the June 1 Triple Bend Stakes (G2) at Santa Anita, to the potential benefit of fellow Cal-bred Big City Lights .
It has already worked once. After winning two stakes, Big City Lights finished second to The Chosen Vron in four consecutive Cal-bred stakes, the only losses of his career. So trainer Richard Mandella and owner William Peeples skipped the Jan. 13 California Cup Sprint with Big City Lights, leaving that victory to The Chosen Vron. Big City Lights instead faced open company in an allowance optional claimer and the Feb. 10 Palos Verdes Stakes (G3), acing both tests.
The Chosen Vron and Big City Lights appeared together in the entries for the May 25 Thor’s Echo Stakes for Cal-breds, but Mandella and Peeples may have found a better path yet again. They scratched Big City Lights from the six-furlong Thor’s Echo in favor of the seven-furlong Triple Bend, a strategy that could make the 5-year-old son of Mr. Big a double graded stakes winner.
Big City Lights is by Mr. Big, out of the Exchange Rate mare Champagne Exchange, was bred by Bar C Racing Stables, is owned by William Peeples and trained by Richard Mandella. He has five wins and four seconds in nine starts and earnings of $392,420.
While Big City Lights has not faced any of its three Triple Bend competitors, The Chosen Vron, a winner of 18 of 23 starts, offers yet another yardstick. Happy Jack most recently finished second by three-quarters of a length to The Chosen Vron in the April 27 Kona Gold Stakes. In one of four losses to The Chosen Vron, Big City Lights cut it closer, running just a neck behind The Chosen Vron in the 2023 California Cup Sprint. Other defeats ranged from 1 1/4 to 3 1/4 lengths.
Big City Lights, who drew outside post in the short field of four, gets a new jockey for the Triple Bend, with Kyle Frey taking over from Juan Hernandez and, more recently, Flavien Prat.
Doug O’Neill trains Calumet Farm’s Happy Jack and has named Edwin Maldonado to ride the 5-year-old son of Oxbow from post 2. In addition to his Kona Gold placing, Happy Jack ran third in the 2022 Santa Anita Derby (G1) and San Felipe Stakes (G2). He finished unplaced in that year’s Kentucky Derby (G1) and Preakness (G1). Happy Jack started only twice in 2023 and did not win. The Kona Gold was his 2024 debut and his first start in almost 10 months.
Hernandez will be aboard Tahoe Sunrise from post 3 for trainer Bob Baffert. A $310,000 Keeneland September Yearling in 2021, Tahoe Sunrise is by Baffert-trained Triple Crown winner American Pharoah . Tahoe Sunrise won the 2023 Shared Belief Stakes at Del Mar and is making his 2024 debut.
Mark Glatt, third in the Santa Anita trainer standings behind Phil D’Amato and Baffert, will saddle comebacking Dr. Venkman , to be ridden by Antonio Fresu from the rail. A 4-year-old son of Ghostzapper , Dr. Venkman won two races last summer at Del Mar. In his third and most-recent start, he finished a head behind graded winner Raise Cain in the seven-furlong Perryville Stakes Oct. 21 at Keeneland.