By DRF.com
DEL MAR, Calif. (Oct. 22, 2024) — The Chosen Vron, an 18-time stakes winner including the last two runnings of the Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes at Del Mar, will not start in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint on Nov. 2 at Del Mar after being scratched by a Breeders’ Cup veterinarian, co-owner John Sondereker said Tuesday afternoon.
Sondereker said The Chosen Vron was inspected Monday by a veterinarian who made the decision.
“He’s off a little bit sometime,” Sondereker said. “I can barely see it and I’ve been around him forever.
“I’ve been with him for six years. He has a little hitch in his backside. It’s not a problem, no medication.”
The news was first reported by XBTV commentator Zoe Cadman on X.com, formerly known as Twitter.
A 6-year-old gelding, The Chosen Vron won the Bing Crosby Stakes on July 27 at Del Mar for his sixth consecutive win, and was second by a neck to BC Sprint hopeful Raging Torrent in the Grade 2 Pat O’Brien Stakes on Aug. 24 at Del Mar, his most recent start. The Chosen Vron had been working on Saturdays at Santa Anita since late September in preparation for the BC Sprint. He worked a half-mile in 48.80 seconds over the weekend.
“Yesterday, the Breeders’ Cup vet came out and put him on the vet’s list,” Sondereker said. “I went up and talked to them today. I wanted to know what the story was.
“They thought the horse was off. There is not much you can do. It’s a shock.
“It’s a shame, really. That kind of call is judgmental.”
Bred by Tiz Molly Partners and co-owned by Robert Fetkin, Richard Thornburgh, and trainer Eric Kruljac, The Chosen Vron has won a remarkable 19 of 25 starts and earned $1,709,678. Sondereker said The Chosen Vron’s condition will be assessed in coming weeks. He said the gelding could return to racing against statebreds.
The Chosen Vron has won 11 stakes against California-breds.
“That horse has been so good to me, personally,” Sondereker said. “I’m not angry at all. What a great horse he’s been. I never had a Grade 1 until I got Vron and I’ve had 60 or 70 or 80 horses.
“It’s possible he could go back into Cal-bred races. We’ve got to get him off the vet’s list first.”
– additional reporting by Mike Welsch