Vahva

Vahva was a $280,000 purchase at the 2021 Keeneland September yearling sale by Belladonna Racing and West Point Thoroughbreds, part of her ownership group. She needed three starts to secure her first victory in 2022 during her 2-year-old season with the breakthrough win coming at seven-eighths of a mile Nov. 26 at Churchill Downs, where she prevailed by three lengths. The Gun Runner filly closed out her juvenile season with a third-place finish in the Untapable Stakes Dec. 26 at Fair Grounds.

Vahva opened her 2023 season with a fourth in the Grade 2 Rachel Alexandra Stakes Presented by Fasig-Tipton. After a pair of races on the Longines Kentucky Oaks trail in which she was not disgraced but was well-beaten, Vahva returned to easier competition and finished second in an allowance-optional claiming race in April at Keeneland before winning at that level on the Kentucky Oaks undercard at Churchill Downs May 5 in a gutsy half-length win.

Trainer Cherie DeVaux tested her again versus stakes company in the Grade 3 Victory Ride Stakes July 8 at Belmont Park and she finished third behind Maple Leaf Mel.

Vahva shipped to Charles Town next for the Aug. 25 $750,000 Charles Town Oaks, where she rallied from just off the pace to post a 1 ½-length win on the wet-fast track to secure her first stakes win in the Grade 3 race.

Vahva won her second graded stakes in a row on Oct. 21 at Keeneland when she was victorious by a half a length in the Grade 2 $350,000 Lexus Raven Run Stakes going seven furlongs over a field of seven 3-year-old fillies.

Vahva returned from a 5 ½-month layoff to make her first start as a 4-year-old in the Grade 1 Resolute Racing Madison Stakes April 6, 2024, at Keeneland, where she finished second by a half-length to Alva Starr.

She made her next start on the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve undercard in the $1 million Derby City Distaff Stakes presented by Kendall-Jackson Winery and got a perfect stalking trip under Irad Ortiz Jr. before pulling away in the Churchill Downs stretch to win by two lengths for her first career Grade 1 win.

Vahva added another win to her growing list of accomplishments in her next start when she won the Grade 3 $250,000 Chicago Stakes by 1 1/4 lengths going seven furlongs as the heavy favorite at Churchill Downs on June 22, 2024. Her next win came almost exactly a year later in the same race when she repeated with another win in the Grade 2 $300,000 Chicago Stakes back at Churchill Downs on June 21, 2025.

Grade 1-placed stakes winner Holiday Soiree, by Harlan’s Holiday, is the dam (mother) of Vahva.