DeVaux to prep for Breeders' Cup at Keeneland

Trainer Cherie DeVaux’s hopes for Breeders’ Cup races are based this fall at Keeneland. DeVaux plans to train two of them, Pyrenees and Vahva, straight into Breeders’ Cup starts, while Breeders’ Cup Mile hope More Than Looks starts Oct. 5 in the $1.25 million Coolmore Turf Mile at Keeneland.

Vahva, who has the BC Filly and Mare Sprint as a target, emerged as the divisional leader with definitive wins in May and June in the Grade 1 Derby City Distaff and the Grade 3 Chicago, both at Churchill. In the Chicago, she beat Society by 1 1/2 lengths, but Society turned the tables Aug. 24 at Saratoga, winning the Grade 1 Ballerina by more than three lengths, with heavily favored Vahva third.

“I’m inclined to just put a line through that race,” DeVaux said. “Last year, I had her training up at Saratoga and she was just training average, not up to her normal standards. We were pointing her to the Test, and we pivoted and ran at Charles Town.”

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Vahva had her second post-Ballerina breeze Thursday, working a half mile at Keeneland.

Pyrenees, a steadily improving 4-year-old, goes to the Classic after second-place Grade 1 finishes in the Stephen Foster and Jockey Club Gold Cup.

“I weighed the option of waiting until next year, but he hasn’t really done anything wrong, and as long as he’s continuing to do well, we’ll point for the Classic,” DeVaux said.

More Than Looks, another 4-year-old, has started only once since turning in the fastest final quarter-mile in the 2023 BC Mile, where he checked in a close sixth. DeVaux had More Than Looks ready to run in the spring before the colt injured himself in his stall, and More Than Looks made his 2024 debut Aug. 11 in the Fourstardave at Saratoga, closing into a slow pace for second behind Carl Spackler.

“That was not really our Plan A, but he came back in really great order, and all we were hoping was that he showed the talent he showed last year,” DeVaux said.

More Than Looks could face Carl Spackler again in the Coolmore Turf Mile, a race to which Aidan O’Brien nominated two horses, Diego Velazquez and Mountain Bear, with Diego Velazquez the more formidable of the two. Mountain Bear was entered in a Kentucky Downs race but didn’t ship from Ireland.

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