Photo Courtesy of Eclipse Sportswire

Senor Buscador Faces The Chosen Vron in O'Brien

Big City Lights has run second to The Chosen Vron four times.

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By Tracy Gantz

Senor Buscador may be ranked second only to Thorpedo Anna in the current National Thoroughbred Racing Association poll, but the seven-furlong Pat O'Brien Stakes (G2) at Del Mar Aug. 24 is sprinter territory. And in California these days, that means one horse: The Chosen Vron.

Senor Buscador has been performing extremely well on the world stage. He won this year's Saudi Cup (G1) and ran third in the Dubai World Cup (G1). He will try to cut back to seven furlongs for his first race in more than four months, and he can certainly win at Del Mar, having taken the San Diego Handicap (G2) there in 2023.

Trainer Todd Fincher will have Senor Buscador in his usual excellent shape. By earnings alone, Senor Buscador is without measure in the eight-horse field, having banked $12,696,427. Joe Talamo is set to ride from post 7.

Senor Buscador has started 19 times in his career, with seven wins. The Chosen Vron, on the other hand, has 19 wins, 14 of them in the past three seasons—all in stakes—with only one loss among that string, in last year's Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1). The Chosen Vron is coming off a sparkling triumph in the six-furlong Bing Crosby Stakes (G1) at Del Mar July 27, and his lifetime bankroll is a much more modest $1,659,678. But don't let that fool you: He's a winning machine.

Trainer Eric Kruljac has breezed The Chosen Vron a couple of times since the Crosby, most recently sending him four furlongs in :48 1/5 Aug. 17.

"It was just beautiful—he just cruised," Kruljac said after the work.

Hector Berrios regularly partners The Chosen Vron and will be back aboard for the O'Brien. They drew post 6.

In the Crosby, The Chosen Vron earned an automatic, fees-paid berth to the Breeders' Cup Sprint as part of the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series. Another Challenge Series race, the O'Brien offers a berth to the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) to the winner.

The O'Brien nominations included Arabian Knight, winner of the 2023 Pacific Classic Stakes (G1) at Del Mar. But Hill 'n' Dale Farm announced Aug. 19 that the 4-year-old son of Uncle Mo had been retired and would begin stud duty there next season.

Instead, Senor Buscador and The Chosen Vron will meet six others, all likely to be much higher prices than those two.

See Through It and Happy Jack return from the Crosby for trainers Genaro Vallejo and Doug O'Neill, respectively. See Through It (Tiago Pereira, post 2) ran fourth in the Crosby. A stakes winner at Golden Gate Fields in 2023, See Through It earlier this year finished third in the Palos Verdes Stakes (G3) at Santa Anita Park. Happy Jack (Edwin Maldonado, post 3) won the Triple Bend Stakes (G2) one start prior to finishing sixth in the Crosby.

Big City Lights , trained by Richard Mandella, most recently ran third in the Triple Bend. Prior to that, his record is five wins and four seconds, all of those seconds to The Chosen Vron. Kazushi Kimura will ride from post 5.

Churchill Downs stakes winner Raging Torrent , multiple stakes-placed Moose Mitchell , and allowance optional claimer winner Arrowthegreat round out the field.