Top sprinter The Chosen Vron seeks 16th stakes win in Saturday’s Kona Gold Stakes

One of the nation’s leading sprinters, The Chosen Vron, is set to return in Saturday’s $100,000 Kona Gold Stakes at Santa Anita after connections paid a $2,000 supplemental entry fee at entry time Wednesday.

Trained and co-owned by Eric Kruljac, The Chosen Vron was supplemented after not being originally nominated for the 6 ½-furlong dirt sprint. He will seek his 16th stakes win against six rivals including multiple graded stakes winner Forbidden Kingdom and Express Train, a Grade I winner who has not started since October 2022.

Since a solid fifth-place effort in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint Nov. 4 at Santa Anita, The Chosen Vron has reeled off three consecutive stakes wins. Just 14 days after the Breeders’ Cup, he returned to win the black-type Cary Grant Stakes at Del Mar to close out the season. In two starts this year, the 6-year-old Vronsky gelding won the California Cup Sprint at Santa Anita Jan. 13 and GIII San Carlos most recently on March 16 at Santa Anita.

Kruljac co-owns The Chosen Vron with Sondereker Racing LLC, Robert S. Fetkin and Richard Thornburgh. The California-bred is 21: 16-1-2 with $1,299,678 in earnings. He will have regular rider Hector Berrios in the irons.