3 Best Bets to Win the 2025 Bing Crosby Stakes

Key Takeaways:

• Crazy Mason (6-1) benefits from a fast pace and brings strong late kick plus improving form.
• Dr. Venkman (4-1) is 3-for-4 at Del Mar and could trip out perfectly just off the speed.
• World Record (3-1) has tactical speed and gets a major vote of confidence from rider Flavien Prat.

Top older sprinters take the spotlight in the Grade 2, $400,000 Bing Crosby Stakes on Saturday, July 26 at Del Mar. The six-furlong dirt race, open to three-year-olds and up, not only offers graded black type and a victory at the prestigious Southern California summer season, but also an automatic bid to the Breeders’ Cup Sprint. Since the Breeders’ Cup happens at Del Mar, the race gives connections a chance to test their horses over the same course and distance as the end-of-year championship race.

The Bing Crosby drew a field of nine to compete for those spoils. The winner of this race the last two years, The Chosen Vron, is now retired—and there is no reigning king of the West Coast sprint division who has yet stepped up to take his place. With a mix of West Coast horses trying to step up and a couple of East Coast horses shipping west to try something new, this should be a strong betting race.

The morning-line favorite is World Record, one of the shippers. He comes into the race from a close second in the Aristides (G3) at Churchill Downs, over the same distance as the Bing Crosby. Other major foes include Hejazi, a Bob Baffert trainee second off a long layoff, as well as graded winners like Dr. Venkman and Crazy Mason.

The Bing Crosby goes off as the 10th of Saturday’s 11 races at Del Mar. The card also includes two other stakes races, the San Diego Handicap (G2) and the Daisycutter Handicap. First post for the card happens at 2:00 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time, with the Bing Crosby set to go off at 6:32 p.m. PDT.

These are the three best bets in the 2025 Bing Crosby Stakes:

1. Crazy Mason (2025 Bing Crosby odds: 6-1)

The Bing Crosby drew a lot of early pace. Though the track can be pretty speed-friendly, there really is a critical mass of pace here: Hejazi, World Record, Roll On Big Joe, and Mbagnick all do their best when they are on or quite close to the lead. This bodes well for a horse who can close, meaning it is far from crazy to think Crazy Mason will have his day at the top level.

Though he is a closer, he has shown that he doesn’t even need a massive pace collapse to get the job done—but given his running style, that likely blazing pace should help. Though he ran a belated third last out in the True North, that race has already been franked—the winner, Book’em Danno, came back to win the Vanderbilt (G2) at Saratoga Race Course next out, and is one of the best sprinters in the country. He doesn’t face a Book’em Danno here. And, though his last two races came at extended sprint trips, he won a six-furlong allowance three back and was a good late-running second at six furlongs in the Inaugural as a juvenile at Tampa Bay Downs.

Though trainer Gregory Sacco doesn’t often turn up on the West Coast, he is judicious with where he ships his horses and tends to find good spots for them. This is a pitch-perfect spot for Crazy Mason, who is in the best form of his career, and if he comes back with one of the races he has been running in New York recently, he can punch his ticket to the Breeders’ Cup at a nice price.

2. Dr. Venkman (2025 Bing Crosby odds: 4-1)

Some horses just love Del Mar, and Dr. Venkman is one of those horses. He is decent at Santa Anita, but at his best, where the turf meets the surf. It’s true, the only time he has missed the board so far came over that course—but that was in the Pacific Classic (G1) last year, a 1 ¼-mile trek and a Breeders’ Cup Classic prep. Even then, he was beaten three lengths for all of it by Mixto.

Dr. Venkman has never been out of the exacta in a sprint race, and he has won all three of his other starts at Del Mar. He also has a right to move forward in his third start off a layoff. As a five-year-old with just eight starts, and with a lot of layoffs strung between those starts, it’s a really good sign that, for the first time in his career, he has made a third start in relatively quick succession.

The question is the cut back to six furlongs, as this Mark Glatt trainee has never gone shorter than 6 ½ furlongs. However, the cut back may be a blessing in disguise. He has shown good tactical speed throughout his career, and at six furlongs there is virtually no way he makes the top against speed demons like Hejazi, World Record, Roll On Big Joe, or Mbagnick. But, he should be able to settle just behind that battle under experienced Southern California jockey Antonio Fresu, and get the first run in the lane.

3. World Record (2025 Bing Crosby odds: 3-1)

Especially if speed is holding well at Del Mar on Saturday, make sure to give a long look to World Record. Though he has the speed to go with Hejazi, Roll On Big Joe, Mbagnick … he has been able to win from just off the pace as well, showing a tactical gear. This gives him an advantage over horses who truly need the lead, as long as he can tap into that gear against stakes-level horses.

The presence of Flavien Prat is interesting. Yes, Prat is World Record’s regular rider; he has been in the irons for his last four starts and seven of his nine lifetime. But, though Prat has won this race a record six times, he is no longer based in California, but rather Saratoga. Prat sees fit to ship across the country and ride World Record in this spot, though—an elite vote of confidence for this horse. And though World Record has yet to break through at the top level—Prat has been riding very well for Rodolphe Brisset in particular lately, and in a race with a lot of 6 ½-furlong and seven-furlong horses, World Record really has come into his own at the flat six.

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