John Sondereker, majority owner of The Chosen Vron, had modest expectations as he settled in to watch his 5-year-old gelding compete in the Grade 1, $400,000 Bing Crosby Stakes on July 29 at Del Mar.

The stable star was riding a seven-race winning streak, but all of those victories had come against overmatched state-breds. Defending winner American Theorem was returning for a repeat bid in the race, which carried an automatic, fees-paid berth in the $2 million Qatar Racing Breeders’ Cup Sprint on Nov. 4 at Santa Anita. The deep 12-horse field also featured Dr. Schivel, the 2021 Bing Crosby victor, and another crack sprinter in Anarchist.

As Sondereker waited for the start of the six-furlong dash, he was more doubtful than hopeful. “I didn’t think he was going to win the race, but I was OK with that. Our expectations were not high,” said the former banking executive. “There is a big difference between a $100,000 Cal-bred race and a Grade 1. The difference is huge.”

The connections of The Chosen Vron celebrate his Bing Crosby Stakes win. (Alex Evers/Eclipse Sportswire)

Sondereker watched as The Chosen Vron raced midpack through the opening half-mile before regular rider Hector Berrios gave his mount his cue. The valiant gelding responded as he always does – with a rush. Sonderecker’s hopes and those of his partners, trainer Eric Kruljac, Robert Fetkin, and Richard Thornburgh, soared momentarily but then dimmed just as quickly as Berrios encountered trouble early on the turn. He had no choice but to check and change paths. In that instant, the momentum lost seemed insurmountable.

But this is The Chosen Vron, a homebred who outran his pedigree long ago in sweeping three California-bred championships. He was the top 3-year-old male in 2021 and was honored as both the top older male and premier turf horse in 2022.

No matter how big the stage, no matter how stiff the competition, The Chosen Vron would not be denied. “All of a sudden, he came running again. He threw it back in gear,” Kruljac said. “He just willed his way the last 100 yards to get back in front.”

Locked in a three-horse duel with two keen rivals to his outside, the strong-willed winner inched away from Anarchist by a head. It was another head back to Dr. Schivel in third.

Sondereker, 80, and Kruljac, 70, could not believe what they had just seen or the course it put them on to the Breeders’ Cup. They both chose the same word to describe their journey. Blessed. The Bing Crosby win elevated The Chosen Vron to millionaire status with $1,032,678 in purse earnings.

“It’s such a thrill to be a part of it. I feel blessed,” Sondereker said. “I was blessed with this luck to have this beautiful animal.”

Kruljac, having downsized to 10 horses or so at the twilight of his career, never envisioned reaching the grand international stage that is the Breeders’ Cup. “I feel blessed, totally blessed, that he came along the way he did,” he said. “I never would have dreamed of getting one like The Chosen Vron.”

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The gelding boasts 13 victories in 17 lifetime starts. He will take an eight-race winning streak into the Qatar Racing Breeders’ Cup Sprint at his home base of Santa Anita, where he has been nearly perfect in winning nine of 10 contests. He has not lost since finishing fifth in the Pat O’Brien Aug. 27, 2022, at Del Mar, which was his only career finish off the board.

This all came about because Kruljac had trained the mare Tiz Molly, The Chosen Vron's dam, and he observed quality in her despite a six-race career cut short by injury in 2013-2014. “We played the breeding lottery and came out winners,” said the veteran trainer and breeder.

The Chosen Vron, an extremely popular horse on the West Coast, stands apart in his intelligence and demeanor. Those should be tremendous assets when he opposes the fastest of the fast in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.

“Nothing seems to upset him. He just seems to go with the flow. He just seems to be calm and cool at all times,” Sondereker said. “He’s that rare Thoroughbred that just doesn’t let things bother him at all. I’ve never seen him act up and I’ve been around him a lot.”

Sondereker has been fascinated by horses since he worked at a small track near Cleveland as a teenager. He attended his first Kentucky Derby in 1960. He has owned Thoroughbreds since the late 1980s but had never sent out a Grade 1 winner until that Crosby rollercoaster ride.

Kruljac had registered a previous Grade 1 triumph when Leave Me Alone beat a field of 3-year-old fillies in Saratoga’s Test Stakes in August 2005. He had so little hope that The Chosen Vron would reach such heights that he failed to nominate him for the Breeders’ Cup. The connections have every intention of supplementing him for $100,000.

One huge question revolves around how well The Chosen Vron will handle the extended layoff from late July until early November. Kruljac noted that the gelding “trains vigorously” and said, “We’re kind of being patient and looking pretty far down the road for his next race, which is going to be the biggest race of his life.”