Listenupshance survives tense final furlong to win Bing Crosby Stakes

Listenupshance edged through a chaotic final furlong Saturday at Del Mar, surviving late pressure to win the Grade I Bing Crosby Stakes as a 5-1 shot. The $400,000 sprint, run as Race 10 on an 11-race card with first post at 2 p.m., turned into a test of nerve as Cornucopian was pulled up and vanned off before the finish.

The result was an upset in a field that had been framed around Cornucopian and Stronghold. Daily Racing Form’s July 22 preview described the race as competitive and centered on those two, and pre-race betting reflected that view, with Cornucopian the 6-5 favorite and Listenupshance listed at 8-1. Instead, Listenupshance put himself in the race early, stayed close enough to matter, and then found enough in the closing stages to get home first when the pressure intensified.

That combination of position and resolve is what made the win more than a simple score. Listenupshance had come into the Bing Crosby off a near-miss in the True North Stakes at Saratoga Race Course, and the Del Mar breakthrough gave the young gelding a graded stakes victory in just his third summer of serious national attention. The horse, a Kentucky-bred gelding foaled May 7, 2022, is trained by Doug F. O’Neill for Great Friends Stables and Run Fast, and his career earnings now stand at $336,160.

The final furlong also told the other side of the story. Listenupshance did not separate from the field in commanding fashion, and the race’s late strain, capped by Cornucopian’s incident, left the impression of a horse that won through grit as much as superiority. That matters for what comes next at Del Mar, where the summer sprint division can quickly get tougher and where a Grade I winner must usually prove he can repeat under sharper pressure.

For Listenupshance, the Bing Crosby moved him from useful stakes horse to a more credible player in the West Coast sprint picture. The performance suggested enough speed to stay in contention and enough determination to finish, but it also showed a horse that may still be vulnerable if the pace gets hotter or the company tightens again later in the meet.