Big City Lights Set to Shine in Triple Bend

State-bred stakes usually give horses an option to obtain black type while ducking tougher competition they might encounter in graded stakes. The talented California-bred sprinter The Chosen Vron  has turned that scenario upside down for the June 1 Triple Bend Stakes (G2) at Santa Anita Park, to the potential benefit of fellow Cal-bred Big City Lights .

It has already worked once. After winning two stakes, Big City Lights finished second to The Chosen Vron in four consecutive Cal-bred stakes, the only losses of his career. So trainer Richard Mandella and owner William Peeples skipped the Jan. 13 California Cup Sprint with Big City Lights, leaving that victory to The Chosen Vron. Big City Lights instead faced open company in an allowance optional claimer and the Feb. 10 Palos Verdes Stakes (G3), acing both tests.

The Chosen Vron and Big City Lights appeared together in the entries for the May 25 Thor's Echo Stakes for Cal-breds, but Mandella and Peeples may have found a better path yet again. They scratched Big City Lights from the six-furlong Thor's Echo in favor of the seven-furlong Triple Bend, a strategy that could make the 5-year-old son of Mr. Big   a dual graded stakes winner.

While Big City Lights has not faced any of its three Triple Bend competitors, The Chosen Vron, a winner of 18 of 23 starts, offers yet another yardstick. Happy Jack  most recently finished second by three-quarters of a length to The Chosen Vron in the April 27 Kona Gold Stakes. In one of four losses to The Chosen Vron, Big City Lights cut it closer, running just a neck behind The Chosen Vron in the 2023 Don Valpredo California Cup Sprint Stakes. Other defeats ranged from 1 1/4 to 3 1/4 lengths.

Big City Lights, who drew outside post in the short field of four, gets a new jockey for the Triple Bend, with Kyle Frey taking over from Juan Hernandez and, more recently, Flavien Prat.

Doug O'Neill trains Calumet Farm's Happy Jack and has named Edwin Maldonado to ride the 5-year-old son of Oxbow   from post 2. In addition to his Kona Gold placing, Happy Jack ran third in the 2022 Santa Anita Derby (G1) and San Felipe Stakes (G2). He finished unplaced in that year's Kentucky Derby (G1) and Preakness Stakes (G1). Happy Jack started only twice in 2023 and did not win. The Kona Gold was his 2024 debut and his first start in almost 10 months.

Hernandez will be aboard Tahoe Sunrise  from post 3 for trainer Bob Baffert. A $310,000 Keeneland September Yearling Sale purchase in 2021, Tahoe Sunrise is by Baffert-trained 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah  . Tahoe Sunrise won the 2023 Shared Belief Stakes at Del Mar and is making his 2024 debut.

Mark Glatt, third in the Santa Anita trainer standings by earnings behind Phil D'Amato and Baffert and second by wins behind D'Amato, will saddle comebacking Dr. Venkman , to be ridden by Antonio Fresu from the rail. A 4-year-old son of Ghostzapper  , Dr. Venkman won two races last summer at Del Mar. In his third and most recent start, he finished a head behind graded winner Raise Cain  in the seven-furlong Perryville Stakes Oct. 21 at Keeneland.