Horse racing notes: The Chosen Vron faces Senor Buscador at Del Mar

DEL MAR LEADERS

(Through Sunday)

Jockeys / Wins

Juan Hernandez / 25

Umberto Rispoli / 20

Antonio Fresu / 16

Hector Berrios / 15

Kyle Frey / 13

Reylu Gutierrez / 10

Trainers / Wins

John Sadler / 12

Bob Baffert / 11

Mark Glatt / 10

Phil D’Amato / 10

Michael McCarthy / 9

Doug O’Neill / 9

WEEKEND STAKES

DEL MAR

Saturday

• $250,000, Grade II Pat O’Brien Stakes, 3-year-olds and up, 7 furlongs

Sunday

• $100,000, Grade III Rancho Bernardo Handicap, fillies and mares, 3 and up, 6½ furlongs

LOS ALAMITOS

Saturday

• $40,000 Sgt Pepper Feature Handicap, quarter horses, 3-year-olds, 350 yards

Sunday

• $100,000, Grade I Go Man Go Handicap, quarter horses, 3 and up, 400 yards

DOWN THE STRETCH

• The Chosen Vron goes for his seventh win in a row and 20th in 25 career starts when the 6-year-old gelding and jockey Hector Berrios face seven horses in the Pat O’Brien Stakes at Del Mar on Saturday. The X factor is Senor Buscador (Joe Talamo riding), cutting back to a sprint as he ends a nearly five-month break following the Middle East trip where he won the $20 million Saudi Cup. Happy Jack (Edwin Maldonado) returns to 7 furlongs, the distance of his Triple Bend Stakes win at Santa Anita.

• Berrios was named national Jockey of the Week by the Jockeys’ Guild after he showed off his turf-riding skills by sweeping Del Mar’s weekend stakes with Iscreamuscream in the Del Mar Oaks and Moment’s Pleasure in the Solana Beach.

• The field is taking shape for the Aug. 31 Pacific Classic. The list reported by Del Mar includes Dr. Venkman, Katonah and Express Train, 1-2-3 finishers in the San Diego Handicap. Others are Midnight Mammoth, Mixto and None Above the Law, with the possibility of Full Serrano and speculation about Bob Baffert-trained horses.

• Arabian Knight, the Pacific Classic winner as a 3-year-old in 2023 for Baffert and jockey Flavien Prat, has been retired from racing and will start a stud career at Hill ‘n’ Dale Farm in Kentucky, it was announced Monday. Arabian Knight’s final start was a fourth-place finish at 2-5 odds in the San Diego Handicap.

• Thorpedo Anna, winner of three Grade I stakes in a row against fellow fillies, faces males for the first time in the $1.25 million, Grade I Travers at Saratoga on Saturday. Thorpedo Anna (Brian Hernandez Jr.) is 3-1 second choice on the morning line in a field of eight featuring 5-2 favorite Dornoch (Luis Saez), the Belmont and Haskell winner; 3-1 Fierceness (John Velazquez) and 7-2 Sierra Leone (Prat).

• Frivolous’ victory with jockey Henry Reynoso Lopez in the Florentine Stakes for quarter horses at Los Alamitos on Saturday was trainer Felix Gonzalez’s victory overall at the Orange County track. Gonzalez’s 777 quarter-horse wins rank 16th on the Los Al trainers list, his 223 thoroughbred wins sixth.

• Top British 3-year-old City of Troy stayed on course for the Breeders’ Cup, winning in track-record time for jockey Ryan Moore and trainer Aidan O’Brien in the Juddmonte International Stakes at York on Wednesday. The 1¼-mile race on turf was a “win and you’re in” qualifier for the Breeders’ Cup Classic at the same distance on dirt at Del Mar on Nov. 2.

• Black Caviar, the world champion sprinter who was undefeated in 25 races, died at age 17 on Aug. 17 in her native Australia. She was euthanized, because of the effects of the hoof condition laminitis, after giving birth to a foal. Black Caviar’s signature victory came at Royal Ascot in England in 2012 despite jockey Luke Nolen easing her to the wire.

— Kevin Modesti