The Chosen Vron Dominates the Lazaro Barrera

Arcadia, CA – The Chosen Vron was last early but took the lead midway down the stretch to win the Lazaro Barrera Stakes (G3) by open lengths Saturday at Santa Anita Park.

Winning jockey Umberto Rispoli “I could see they were going really fast, those two horses up front and by the quarter pole my horse was right on top of them, he really kicked well in the stretch. When I first came here, (J. Eric Kruljac) gave me so many winners, I’m happy to finally give him a stakes win.”

Laurel River, Wipe the Slate, and I’ll Stand Taller completed the order.

Winning trainer J. Eric Kruljac: “Short fields sometimes end up being like match races. I knew my horse could rate, I was so happy when I saw the way it came. Doug had a horse in there that looked like he would use as the rabbit, so that kind of eliminates the match race. He softened them up early and I don’t know if it mattered, with the way the horse fired today. He’s a pretty exciting horse, when you breed them yourself there’s this extra pride that goes into it. I’m as excited as I can be.

This is the first graded stake win for The Chosen Vron. The 3-year-old son of Vronsky improved his record to 4-3-0-1 and has earned $210,600 for owners Eric Kruljac, Robert Fetkin, John Sondereker and Richard Thornburgh.

The Chosen Vron returned $3.20 to win and $2.10 to place. There was no show wagering in the Lazaro Barrera.