How to Bet the The Chosen Vron Stakes
A fast field of nine California-bred runners will jaunt seven furlongs over the Del Mar dirt surface in Saturday’s $100,000 The Chosen Vron S. Richard Mandella’s #5 Big City Lights (2-1) continues to run well at age seven and gets the nod in the highly competitive contest. By Mr. Big, the dark bay ran evenly on the grass in the stakes ranks last time but gets back on his preferred dirt going, and the top pick has won or placed in six of his seven career runs at Del Mar, too.
The Chosen Vron Wagers
Big City Lights has won three stakes races in his last trio of assignments with fellow Cal-bred runners by a combined 17 3/4 lengths, and he also finished in the top three in each of his eight prior outings at seven furlongs, as well. I feel as though he received an ideal post, with much of the pace signed on to his inside, which will allow regular rider Kazushi Kimura to see how things unfold in the opening stages of the heat.
#1 Man O Rose (3-1) has been in excellent form since 2025 and possesses a fantastic 11-9-1-0 mark on the main strip in his career. The Jeff Mullins pupil was an easy and popular winner of the race last campaign, and he comes in fresh after last being seen dominating stakes runners at Los Alamitos in September. The Stanford gelding has natural speed from the gate and will always be in range from the fence with Edwin Maldonado in the stirrups.
#4 Pure Madness (6-1) lacks the credentials of some of the major contenders in the dash, but the Brian Koriner five-year-old sports a 4-2-2-0 lifetime line on dirt and could be the early leader in the heat. The lightly raced bay has winning experience on the oval, and I love the turf-to-dirt move today for the son of Sir Prancealot. Armando Ayuso retains the ride and will send the win threat from the start.
Mark Glatt’s #7 Lonesome Stew (6-1) is a very talented runner capable on both the grass and the dirt. The lightly raced son of Grazen owns a win and a second from a trio of career tries locally and had a nice prep for this tilt, closing third on the lawn in a deep black-type event at Santa Anita. The versatile gelding will stalk the pace with Emisael Jaramillo in the irons.
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