Sent as Hip 187 by Lane’s End, the daughter of Rifle runner was offered as a racing or broodmare.
“She was everything we could have wanted as a broodmare,” says Hannah Jennings of Killora Stud. “Jenny and Randy Boyd, they’re coming into the game wanting to have a broodmare bond at the highest level and she certainly fits the bill.”
Randy and Jenny Boyd impressed at this year’s Fasig-Tipton’s The Saratoga Sale with two purchases totaling $2.95 million, one of which was the sale’s most expensive filly at $2.6 million. That daughter of Rifle runner was out of the multiple grade 1 winning mare Paradise forest .
READ: Boyd Racing Impresses at FT Saratoga Sale
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Jennings said the Boyds will send Vahva to Aidan and Hannah Jennings’ Killora Stud near Paris, Kentucky. The future of the 5-year-old mare has yet to be determined.
“That’ll be up to him (Randy Boyd),” Jennings said. “We’ll leave that option open and if she gets better and is healthy, we’ll leave that option open, but she’s done enough. She got her grade 1.”
When asked about a possible stallion mating, Jennings said Not this time came to mind.
“I think she would be a really good fit for him physically because she’s so strong, and we’ll see what he says,” Jennings said.
The 5-year-old mare has a 7-6-3 record from 20 lifetime starts with $2,289,010 in earnings for trainer Cherie DeVaux, who has trained the mare since the start of her illustrious career. She broke her girl in Churchill Downs at 2, and won two graded stakes races at 3, including the 2023 Raven Run Stakes (G2) at Keeneland. She achieved her Grade 1 victory at 4 when she emerged victorious in the Derby City Distaff Stakes (G1). At age 5, she showed her consistency by winning the Chicago Stakes (G2) and most recently a gutsy second-place finish in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint.
“To keep a horse at the top of the game for so long between the ages of 2 and 5, she has run some really fast numbers throughout her career,” Jennings said. “They did a great job with the filly. I know she is very special to (DeVaux) because she is one of her very first really big horses. Hopefully she will come visit.”
DeVaux was on hand to see her prized filly go through the ring.
Cherie DeVaux
“I was a lot more emotional beforehand, but I’m just so proud of her. She was a classy, classy girl in the ring,” DeVaux said. “We had won a Grade 1 in Canada with She Feels Pretty (2023 Natalma Stakes), and she was our first Grade 1 winner in America. She was our first legitimate (Kentucky) Oaks candidate. We had her sprint and she has been one of the high-level sprinters since we made that decision.
“She showed up every year, she won a (graduated) stakes every year. When you’re trying to get your career going, you want to be well-rounded, show that you can train on grass and on sand, and she helped with that.”
DeVaux said the mare was very special to her and her team and was happy to see her still competing at the highest level.
“Very proud of everyone who took part in this,” DeVaux said. “Everyone from Barry Eisaman who broke her, to every training rider, jockey who rode her, her groom and all our assistants. It was a pleasure to work with her. She is someone you enjoy training. She goes out there, she tries every time. She is very intense in her work. It will leave a big hole for us.”
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