Velázquez expertly rides Vahva to win Raven Run at Keeneland

Lexington, Ky.

In his nearly 52 years of life and 34 years of professional rides, Hall of Fame jockey John Velázquez has figured out a thing or two about how to craft a winning trip.

With a reputation for being one of the best front-running riders of all time, Velázquez is not without the savvy to stalk a hot pace early and seize the moment late. His victory on Vahva in Saturday’s Grade 2, $350,000 Raven Run Stakes for 3-year-old fillies going seven furlongs on the Keeneland main track was a perfect example.

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“Honestly, our strategy was to try to get as close as we can to the horse on the lead,” Velázquez said after Vahva (5-2) caught pacesetting, odds-on favorite Alva Starr (4-5) in the last 70 yards and beat her by a half-length. “I got her out running, and she responded.”

The daughter of Gun Runner who made her graded-stakes breakthrough Aug. 25 in winning the Charles Town Oaks (G3) was smack dab in the middle of the seven-horse pack Saturday while Alva Starr blazed early fractions of 22.61 and 45.48 seconds and 1:10.05 on the main track rated fast.

Going into the turn on a sunny, windy, 73-degree day, only three lengths separated the top six. Velázquez decided this was where the rubber would meet the road.

“Everybody kind of gathered up going to the three-eighths pole,” he said. “I wanted to make sure I held my position. I wasn’t about to give up my position where I was.”

Vahva actually moved forward to third as Velázquez tipped her outside. While she made her charge at Alva Starr, the rest of the field gave way, and it was a two-horse race to the finish.

With the experience of two wins and a close second in her previous seven-furlong starts, Vahva wore down Alva Starr, whose five races before this weekend were six furlongs each.

“My filly got tired,” said Tyler Gaffalione, Alva Starr’s fifth different jockey. “I can understand that. She’s never gone seven. That was the easiest she has ever gone that early, so that could be the only answer.”

The Lord Nelson filly who won the Prioress (G2) by 8 3/4 lengths Sept. 2 at Saratoga still fought to the finish, so trainer Brett Brinkman was not ready to give up on trying her again at the same distance.

“We were up against a new factor coming into this race,” he said. “I’m not running away from seven-eighths. I’m not scared of seven-eighths.”

Neither is winning trainer Cherie DeVaux, who made the decision to send Vahva back into graded-stakes company last month in West Virginia after she ran a distant fourth in the February running of the Rachel Alexandra (G2) at Fair Grounds and a closer third to the late Maple Leaf Mel on July 8 in the Victory Ride (G3) at Belmont Park.

The filly owned by a big partnership led by Porsche Brooks’s Belladonna Racing had been ticketed for a start this summer at Saratoga.

“We were targeting the Test (G1), and she just wasn’t training well up into that,” DeVaux said. “The Charles Town race was a regroup, and it worked out great. This was the second time in the year we took an opportunity to give her two weeks and just turn her out and then train her into the respective race. I think that’s really been a key with her, because she’s developed so much this year. She comes back, she looks fantastic, and she doesn’t lose any fitness.”

The winning time of 1:23.28 for Vahva was 0.30 seconds faster than it took Raise Cain to win 1 1/2 hours earlier in the comparable Perryville Stakes that had six 3-year-old males.

Vahva paid $7.06, $2.92 and $2.46. Alva Starr returned $2.64 and $2.42. Dazzling Blue (7-1), who finished second to Vahva in the Victory Ride and third to Alva Starr in the Prioress, was another 12 1/2 lengths up the track in third Saturday and paid $3.24 to show. Apple Picker (25-1), Lily Poo (14-1), Lady Radler (9-1) and Ancient Peace (12-1) finished fourth through seventh in that order. Simply Stated and Nom de Plume were race-day scratches.

Based at Fair Grounds, Brinkman said Alva Starr probably was done racing for a year in which she went 5: 2-3-0.

“We’re going to probably go home, piddle around with her and give her some time off,” he said. “We’ll kind of regroup and crank up probably in February.”

Not so for Vahva, who added $211,575 on Saturday to bring her career earnings to $873,810 from her record of 10: 4-2-2. DeVaux said a Grade 1 race Dec. 26 at Santa Anita was a distinct possibility. And seven furlongs was a distinct probability.

“Oh, yeah. Seven furlongs definitely seems to be her sweet spot,” DeVaux said. “We’ll try to keep that distance going forward. We’re targeting the La Brea, just depending on what she does. If we think she needs time, she obviously can train into races. But if we find something else we want to run her in, we’ll do that. Right now the target is the La Brea at the end of the year.”

If that means Velázquez gets his third ride on the filly who cost $280,000 as a yearling, all the better. Especially at seven furlongs and riding for a 41-year-old trainer who is having a career year with six graded stakes among her 47 victories and earnings of more than $4.5 million.

“Cherie has done a great job with her,” Velázquez said. “She thinks this is probably the best distance for her.”