Vahva eyes two more Grade 1s

A deserved first Grade 1 now behind her, the 4-year-old filly Vahva has two more of them as long-term goals for 2024.

Winner of the Grade 3 Charles Town Oaks and the Grade 2 Raven Run to cap her 2023 campaign, Vahva made her first start of this year in the Grade 1 Madison at Keeneland, where she closed steadily but fell short of catching victorious Alva Starr. On May 4 in the sevenfurlong, Grade 1 Derby City Distaff at Churchill Downs, Alva Starr couldn’t come close to containing Vahva, who cruised to a two-length victory that yielded a career-best 103 Beyer Speed Figure.

Such a performance would have sapped Vahva when she was a 3-year-old, but the filly, by Gun Runner out of Holiday Soiree, has grown up.

“She came out of the race in great order,” said Cherie DeVaux, who trains Vahva for a partnership. “Last year she came out of her races looking like she needed some time. This year, it’s different. She’s holding her condition well.”

DeVaux is plotting Vahva’s path forward with two major markers in mind, both going seven furlongs: the Grade 1 Ballerina on Aug. 24 at Saratoga and the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint on Nov. 2 at Del Mar. To get to those spots, DeVaux said she was likely run Vahva back June 22 at Churchill in the $250,000 Chicago Stakes.

“It’s a Grade 3, but she obviously likes this track. I’d be inclined to then train her into the Ballerina,” DeVaux said.

Cagliostro has not approached Grade 1 status, but did make a sharp 4-year-old debut April 19 at Keeneland, beating the good colt Dreamlike in a first-level dirt allowance, earning a career-best 98 Beyer. DeVaux said she hasn’t worked Cagliostro back yet because “he ran such a big number off the layoff,” but has the June 1 Blame Stakes at Churchill as a target for the Upstart colt.

And finally, 4-year-old turf miler More Than Looks, most recently a fast-finishing sixth in the Breeders’ Cup Mile, has resumed training after suffering a relatively minor injury at Fair Grounds in March. More Than Looks got hurt after being scratched from a turf race, his intended 2024 debut, that was rained onto dirt.

Xigera fine after misfire

The bad news is Xigera was all but eased making her first start as a 4-year-old in the Grade 1 La Troienne on May 3 at Churchill. The good news is her connections found nothing wrong with the filly.

Xigera went off as the second choice in the La Troienne but was never in contention, crossing the finish some 40 lengths behind the favored winner, Idiomatic, while racing over a sloppy track for the first time. Xigera, a turf horse to start her career, had won three in a row – the Seneca overnight, the Grade 2 Mother Goose, and the Grade 3 Falls City – after being switched to dirt last season.

“All we can come up with is the track,” Philip Bauer, who trains Xigera for Rigney Racing, said Thursday. Jockey Julien Leparoux “felt once she came off the bridle around the half-mile pole, she just started spinning her wheels. By the quarter pole it was a known fact she wasn’t handling it, and he just galloped her in. She scoped fine, bounced out of it very well. She did gallop a mile today full of energy.”

This was the third clunker Xigera has thrown in an otherwise stellar career. She ran poorly in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf, and floundered last summer over a soft Saratoga grass course.

Bauer said Xigera is nominated to the Shawnee Stakes on June 1 at Churchill.

“We’ll see where we’re at with her. It’s thrown us for a loop with how bad she ran,” Bauer said.

O’Neill pair to Woody Stephens

Vlahos, making his first start since being purchased following a blazing career debut that earned a 98 Beyer, finished a gallant third on Kentucky Derby Day after contesting a strong pace in the Pat Day Mile. But he was not the fastest 3-year-old one-turn dirt horse of the day for trainer Doug O’Neill.

In Saturday’s 13th race, following the Derby, Raging Torrent went wire to wire in a first-level allowance, winning by more than eight lengths. His seven-furlong time of 1:21.13 was good for a 104 Beyer.

Both horses, all being well, will be aimed at the Grade 1, $500,000 Woody Stephens on June 8 at Saratoga, O’Neill said.

Raging Torrent, a Maximus Mischief colt, showed promise as a 2-year-old, contesting to no great effect a pair of Grade 1 route races last year. He had most recently run in a turf sprint before besting his previous high Beyer by 21 points.

“He’s a tall, long-striding, lanky horse, looks like he’ll run a mile and a quarter, but as I tried to stretch him out, he kind of fizzled,” O’Neill said. “Just getting him back to one turn helped. He’s a horse that likes to run in the bridle.”

Vlahos regressed to an 89 Beyer in his second start but probably outran the figure.

“He did all the running, and we were very impressed he didn’t just throw in the towel turning for home,” said O’Neill. “If both horses are doing great, they both deserve a chance in the Woody Stephens.”

Pretty Mischievous doing okay

Pretty Mischievous managed a third-place finish making her 4-year-old bow in the La Troienne, but she was beaten more than five lengths, earned just an 86 Beyer, and did not run to her best form.

“I thought she ran well, but I don’t know that she’s in love with the slop,” trainer Brendan Walsh said. “That, and she’ll probably improve from the run. She might have gotten a little tired at the end. It looked at the quarter pole like she was going to be competitive. She at least showed us she’s trained on.”

Pretty Mischievous, who won the Kentucky Oaks and two more Grade 1s last year, has returned to galloping, Walsh said, but no plans have been set for her next start.

Walsh also said that the 3-yearold filly Intricate, a distant fifth as the 2-1 second choice in the Fair Grounds Oaks, has returned to training. Intricate came out of her disappointing run March 23 with “heavy mucus,” Walsh said, and should have her first breeze since March in the next week or 10 days.

Bling stretches back out

Trainer Vicky Oliver said before Bling made her 4-yearold debut last month in the 5 1/2-furlong Giant’s Causeway at Keeneland that she saw the filly more as a miler than a sprinter. Seventh in her comeback run, Bling will stretch out to one mile in the featured fourth race Sunday at Churchill.

She also has found a softer spot. This third-level turf allowance with a $100,000 claiming option drew only six entrants.

Third in the Grade 3 Valley View over one mile and second in the Grade 3 Pucker Up at 1 1/8 miles, Bling figures to be favored over Implicated, who makes her first start since being transferred from trainer Chad Brown to Brendan Walsh. Implicated won a modest renewal of the Pebbles Stakes last fall and most recently was fourth Feb. 3 in the Grade 3 Endeavour at Tampa Bay Downs.