The Chicago Stakes used to be the Chicago Handicap, and it used to be, you know, in Chicago – the suburbs, at least. The Chicago’s old home, Arlington Park, no longer exists, but for the 5-year-old mare Vahva, racing in the Chicago on Saturday night at Churchill Downs must have felt like going home again. Vahva’s win in the Chicago last June came after she’d captured the Grade 1 Derby City Distaff, her fourth victory in five starts, but Vahva’s form deserted her afterward. She was so-so at Saratoga in the Ballerina last August, poor in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint at Del Mar in November, and poor again making her return from an extended break May 3 in the Derby City Distaff, a tough race contested over a goopy surface. While trainer Cherie DeVaux might entertain the notion that Vahva had lost her spark, all three decidedly subpar showings came with plausible excuses. Vahva needed none Saturday night, turning back upstart Claret Beret in midstretch and going on to a three-quarters-lengths victory, her first in a year. Vahva in her first 16 starts never showed as much speed as she did in this Chicago. She broke sharply under Irad Ortiz and was just a head behind hopeless longshot Gray Lightning’s first-quarter split of 22.82. That’s not especially fast for a racing surface that recently has been electric, and it was an edge Vahva would press later in the race. :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. “She helped me from the gate the first couple jumps,” Ortiz said. “She broke sharp, I was able to clear some horses with speed, sit second, let her relax, find her stride, stay close.” Gray Lightning never had a chance, and it was just a matter of time before Vahva took her measure, and that’s how apprentice rider Micah Husbands on Claret Beret must have seen things. Claret Beret last October was claimed for $62,500 at Keeneland. In May, she made her first start for trainer Saffie Joseph, winning a one-mile Gulfstream Park handicap by almost 20 lengths. That performance evidently was no fluke. Claret Beret came with a run past the three-furlong marker, collared the leaders, and at the quarter pole appeared to poke her head in front of Vahva. Vahva did not respond like a horse who hadn’t won in a year. With plenty left after the moderate pace, she put her head down and responded, getting back on terms, forging to a one-length stretch-call lead, and holding firm to the finish. “We turned for home, I asked her, and she showed what she can do,” Ortiz said. One thing Vahva did was run fast: She clocked 1:20.89, one of the faster seven-furlong Churchill times in recent years. A lively racing surface clearly impacted the final time, and this wasn’t a race to beat divisional standouts Kopion and Ways and Means, but the old Vahva was back. Claret Beret had 3 1/4 lengths on third-place Zeitlos, who turned in the race’s fastest third-quarter mile, 23.12, to move from seventh into a mildly contending position, but she could not finish with the top two, much less catch them, while a whopping five lengths clear of fourth-place Emery. My Mane Squeeze, crazily favored at 5-2 over Vahva and Emery, checked in fifth. Vahva, the close second choice, paid $7.58 while winning for the fifth time in six Churchill starts. DeVaux trains Vahva for Belladonna Racing, Lynn Hudson, Edward Hudson, and West Point Thoroughbreds. Vahva, bred by Woodford Thoroughbreds, is by Gun Runner out of Holiday Soiree, by Harlan’s Holiday. Vahva didn’t have to go to Chicago to win another Chicago and break a losing year. She merely returned to a fast track at Churchill Downs, her favorite surface -- back home again. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.