Vahva

4th-CD, $120,000, Msw, 2yo, f, 5f, 2:23 p.m. Flying Dutchmen's WHERE LUCK LIVES (Nyquist) gets a start for trainer Brian Lynch. A $725,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select yearling purchase, the dark bay is out of SW and GISP Holiday Soiree (Harlan's Holiday). The mare, who sold for $300,000 at Keeneland November in 2023, is already responsible for Grade I scorer Vahva (Gun Runner), who most recently won the GII Chicago Stakes at this venue last weekend in addition to GSP Signal From Noise (Arrogate). TJCIS PPs

It's been a long time between drinks for Vahva (Gun Runner), the 2024 GI Derby City Distaff Stakes winner whose last career win came exactly a year ago in the Chicago Stakes at Churchill Downs, when it was a Grade III event. Upgraded to Grade II this year, the Chicago Stakes was targeted by Vahva's connections after the now-5-year-old made no impact in this year's edition of the Derby City Distaff. Irad Ortiz, Jr. kept her a little closer to the pace than usual in the Chicago, as she tracked...

The form of the GI Derby City Distaff has already been franked on a couple of occasions over the last several weeks, and a pair of also-rans from the Derby undercard contest will look to further flatter the race when they square off in the GII Chicago Stakes beneath the Saturday night lights on the 'Downs After Dark' program in Louisville. Stonestreet Stables' Emery (More Than Ready) won four of her five starts at three last season, including a two-length defeat of My Mane Squeeze (Audible) in Keeneland's GII Raven...

Knowing when a horse is ready to take a step up and when it's time to take a step back--it's one of the fundamentals of training. Get it right and you get rewarded. Get it wrong and, well, you'll likely know pretty quickly. Some trainers just seem to have a feel for where that line is, a sense of when to ask for more and when the horse might need a little more time and preparation. Cherie DeVaux is learning to hone that intuition. "It is a balance to be...

Leading into the first Saturday in May, the Beyer Speed Figure benchmark for the year hadn't been set by one of the star 3-year-olds in the nation, but by the 4-year-old California campaigner Kopion (f, 4, Omaha Beach--Galloping Ami, by Victory Gallop), who closed out her 2024 season as a surprise 37-1 victress in the GI La Brea Stakes on Santa Anita's opening day in December. Saturday she made it three in a row and proved her last-out, year-topping 110 Beyer Speed Figure was no fluke as she made the...

6th-Fair Grounds, $55,000, Msw, 2-15, 3yo, f, 6f, 1:10.43, ft, 1 1/2 lengths. AHAVAH (f, 3, City of Light--Holiday Soiree {SW & GISP, $405,642}, by Harlan's Holiday) overcame a bit of a sluggish dispatch and held off a persistent late challenge from fellow well-tried first-starter Unwavering Trust (Nyquist) to take the second division of the 3-year-old filly six-furlong maiden Saturday afternoon at the Fair Grounds. A bit flat-footed at the break, the $400,000 Keeneland September yearling, whose half-sister Vahva (Gun Runner, $1,802,810) won last year's GI Derby City Distaff, mustered...

Multiple Grade I-placed 'TDN Rising Star' Ferocious (Flatter) was out on track at 7:30 a.m. at Keeneland following the first harrow period and had Javier Castellano in the irons for the morning session as he continued preps for his scheduled start in the GI FanDuel Breeders' Cup Juvenile. Castellano had spent nearly two months on the sidelines with a fractured hand, but made a trip from New York to Lexington specifically for the half-mile work. In the first move since Ferocious finished second in the GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity, the...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.--There was a steady stream of people ambling over to trainer Kenny McPeek's barn at the Annex behind the Oklahoma Training Track Friday morning. They all wanted to send good thoughts to him and his 3-year-old filly, Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna), as Saturday's $1.25 million GI Travers Stakes at Saratoga Race Course quickly approached. McPeek, standing outside his office with his canine companion Sonny at his side, accepted all the positive vibes. Some lucky ones were even able to secure a pink Thorpedo Anna baseball cap, which were...

When 'TDN Rising Star' Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) enters the gate for Saturday's $1.25-million GI Travers Stakes at Saratoga, it'll be more than a sporting gesture on the part of the ownership group and trainer Ken McPeek. The conditioner is rolling the dice against a field that includes three other Grade I winners--an oft-brilliant, but sometimes unpredictable reigning Eclipse Award champion, a Classic winner over the course and distance and a seven-figure yearling whose full potential has yet to be realized. Sure, Thorpedo Anna could have faced her peers in...

There is no shortage of active pedigrees at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale, but this year Warrendale Sales has a draft of eight yearlings that includes several particularly eye-catching updates. Hunter Simms, Warrendale's Director of Bloodstock Service, can attest that landing a buzz horse in a yearling's pedigree is exactly what you're hoping for in the weeks leading up to a sale--especially at Saratoga where blacktype already abounds. "People want to buy into young, active families," he said. "If it's fillies, there is hope that down the road you have some...

An interval of 136 years between Apollo and Justify, followed by one of just five to Mage, tells us all we need to know about the way modern trainers can (and increasingly prefer to) prepare their Derby prospects. So these remain very early days for the freshmen sires, nowadays responsible for such a large portion of every juvenile crop. In this era of monster books, especially, even the rookie with most action to date has barely scratched the surface. At the moment that's Vekoma, who lies second in the freshman...

The wagering public knew they wanted a daughter of Gun Runner to win the GIII Chicago Stakes. In one corner was Vahva, the 2-5 favorite, coming off a career-best 103 Beyer Speed Figure when in control of the Derby City Distaff Stakes on Derby Day at Churchill May 4. Opposite her was the rail-drawn speed of 2-1 shot Society, the defending Chicago Stakes winner but unraced since a tiring fourth in the GI Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Santa Anita last November. Ultimately it was Vahva for trainer...