Lovesick Blues © Benoit Photo
Saturday will be the second renewal of the The Chosen Vron, a seven-furlong test on the main track. Nine Cal-bred 3-year-olds and up have been entered in the race and it will mark the return of Lovesick Blues, an 8-year-old gelding who captured the 2025 G1 Bing Crosby, a race The Chosen Vron had won the prior two years.
The The Chosen Vron will be Lovesick Blues’ first race in over seven months. The last time we saw the son of Grazen race was in the Dubai Golden Shaheen at the end of March.
“The Dubai trip took a little bit out of him,” trainer Librado Barocio says. “I thought he was a little thin so we did the right thing and gave him time off and let him come back to himself and I think he’s ready to go and ready to campaign for another year.”
The last time Lovesick Blues ran at Del Mar was last fall when he ran in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint. After that Barocio took him overseas, first to Saudi Arabia to run in the Riyadh Dirt Sprint on the Saudi Cup undercard and then to Dubai.
“When he got back from Dubai he just wasn’t himself,” Barocio recalls. “He’s normally playful and rambunctious and always on the muscle. He just didn’t have that spirit in him and he looked skinny. The veterinarian here told me I should give him some time off so I sent him up to Katie Fisher’s farm and she did a tremendous job with him, kept him for about two months. When he came back I took my time with him”
Ironically the farm where Lovesick Blues recuperated, Kingfisher Farm in Solvang, is the same one The Chosen Vron now spends his days of retirement.
“It is a layoff so it’s a bit concerning for me,” Barocio notes. “But what I like is that it wasn’t a layoff for any injury. Two weeks ago, Juan Hernandez worked him and he worked tremendous (5f, 1:00.10 9/79) and even Juan said, ‘Oh my God, he worked so good.’ Then we tried to give him an easy breeze and he just outdid himself last week (5f, :59.60 4/46). I think he’s ready to go but you never know first time back.”
Lovesick Blues will have his hands full with at least a couple of top-notch Cal-breds in Man O Rose and Big City Lights.
Man O Rose was riding a five-race winning streak early this year before finishing third in the $100,000 Sensational Star at Santa Anita in March. Trainer Jeff Mullins gave the 6-year-old son of Stanford five months off and brought him back in the G2 Green Flash at Del Mar this past summer when he ran a disappointing last of eight horses.
Man O Rose returned to Cal-bred company in September at Los Alamitos and got back in the winner’s circle with a victory in the $75,000 E. B. Johnston.
Big City Lights spends as much time running in open company as he does with Cal-breds but when he does run with Cal-breds, he usually wins. Except for last time out in the $100,000 California Flag at Santa Anita when he ran fifth, with an excuse.
“We tried the turf again because it was Cal-bred,” says Gary Mandella assistant to his father Richard Mandella, “whereas before we tried him on the turf against open company. So, we gave it one more chance and he didn’t like it.”
The son of Mr. Big will be back on his favorite surface going one of his favorite distances.
“He’s better on dirt,” Mandella says. “That’s his sweet spot.”
Big City Lights is coming to the end of his 7-year-old campaign and Mandella says his future in racing hasn’t been decided.
For 11 years the The Chosen Vron Stakes was called the Cary Grant Stakes continuing with the Hollywood theme at Del Mar in the fall. Then along came The Chosen Vron, a sharp chestnut gelding who dominated the Cal-bred ranks for several years and became a fan favorite. At one stage of his career, he won 14 of 15 races, four of them at Del Mar. Adding to the allure was his very likable trainer, J. Eric Kruljac, whose love and admiration for his horse was palable.
When The Chosen Vron retired in 2025, Del Mar wanted to show it’s appreciation for the horse and re-named the race after him. It goes off as race eight on Saturday’s nine-race program. Probable post time is 4 p.m.
Here’s the field from the rail with the jockeys and morning line odds: Man O Rose (Edwin Maldonado, 3-1); Shady Tiger (Mike Smith, 20-1); Matt At Five (Hector I. Berrios, 12-1); Pure Madness (Armando Ayuso, 6-1); Big City Lights (Kazushi Kimura, 2-1); Special Club (Joel Rosario, 12-1); Lonesome Stew (Emisael Jaramillo, 6-1); Mr. Disrespectful (Tiago Pereira, 20-1), and Lovesick Blues (Juan Hernandez, 5-1).