Gun Runner’s GISW Vahva to Sell at Keeneland November Sale

[Wandering Eyes]

Grade I winner Vahva (Gun Runner–Holiday Soiree, by Harlan's Holiday) has been entered in Book 1 of the November Breeding Stock Sale on Tuesday, Nov. 4. Lane's End, agent, will consign Vahva, who is cataloged as a racing or broodmare prospect. She will become the first Grade I-winning daughter of Gun Runner to be offered at public auction, according to a Keeneland release Tuesday.

Vahva is nominated to the GII Thoroughbred Club of America on Saturday during Fall Stars Weekend on Keeneland's opening three days.

“Vahva is a high-class competitor who has faced and defeated many of the sport's most talented female sprinters in each of the past three seasons,” Keeneland Vice President of Sales Tony Lacy said. “A leading earner by Gun Runner, she will be a valuable addition to any program. Her graded stakes success at Keeneland makes her return to our sales ring especially meaningful, underscoring the unique connection between our racing and sales.”

In four seasons of racing, Vahva has raced at seven tracks with seven victories, including five stakes wins, and earnings of $2,041,010. Last year, she bankrolled nearly $1 million with a campaign that featured a 2-length victory in the GI Derby City Distaff on Kentucky Derby Day at Churchill Downs, where she next took the GIII Chicago Stakes by 1 1/4 lengths. Vahva also ran second in the GI Resolute Racing Madison at Keeneland and third in the GI Ballerina at Saratoga. In 2023, she won the GII Lexus Raven Run at Keeneland and the GIII Charles Town Oaks.

This year, Vahva captured Churchill's Chicago, which was upgraded to a Grade II event, for the second consecutive season. The goal for her connections is a return to the $1-million GI PNC Bank Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Del Mar in advance of being showcased at the November Sale.

“I've been fortunate to be around many successful mares, and Vahva has all the characteristics you look for in a future broodmare,” David Ingordo of Lane's End Farm said. “She is both elegant and strong with the kind of speed you want to see in a broodmare prospect, and I believe she will carry her racing success into the next generation.

“It is strategic on our part to sell Vahva at Keeneland because we believe in the reinvestment of their dollars into the industry and community,” Ingordo added. “I also believe that being able to train her at Keeneland has played a huge role in her development and success.”

Vahva's dam, SW and GISP Holiday Soiree, also produced Cherie DeVaux-trainee Ahavah, runner-up in the GII Fair Grounds Oaks in her second start earlier this year. Holiday Soiree's yearling filly by City of Light commanded $850,000 at the recent Keeneland September Yearling Sale.

Trained throughout her career by DeVaux and based at Keeneland, Vahva raced for Belladonna Racing, Lynne Hudson, Edward J. Hudson, West Point Thoroughbreds, Twin Brook Stables, W.S. Farish, LBD Stable, Runnels Racing and Manganaro Bloodstock.

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