Dorth Vader

Dorth Vader won her maiden race in her second career start as a 2-year-old in a 5 1/2-furlong dirt race at Gulfstream Park on Aug. 21, 2022. From there she was sent directly up in class into stakes competition, and was successful on two occasions, first with a win in the $75,000 Juvenile Fillies Sprint for Florida breds at Gulfstream on Oct. 29, and then next with a victory at Tampa Bay Downs in the $100,000 Sandpiper Stakes going six furlongs against open company on Dec. 3. The stakes wins came by winning margins of four lengths and 2 1/4 lengths, respectively.

The huge momentum that Dorth Vader had accumulated at the end of her 2-year-old campaign grinded to a screeching halt in her 3-year-old debut, which was a sixth-place finish in the $50,000 Gasparilla Stakes at Tampa Bay Downs on Jan. 14, 2023.

Dorth Vader made her next start in the toughest spot yet in her career in the Grade 2 $200,000 Davona Dale Stakes at Gulfstream Park on March 4 in a race that also happened to be her first stretchout to the distance of one mile. Based on the sixth-place finish in the Gasparilla, Dorth Vader had very few supporters on the tote board that day and was sent off as the 46-1 longest shot on the board in a field of eight fillies. The version of Dorth Vader that showed up that day was the multiple stakes winning version, however, and not the Gasparilla sixth-place version, and you will rarely, if ever, see a 46-1 shot win as dominantly as Dorth Vader did that day. In the Davona Dale, Dorth Vader stalked the pace close up, pressed the leader through the turn and took command into the stretch and drew off to a 4 3/4-length victory, going the one-mile distance in a time of 1:37.23. The win places Dorth Vader squarely on the road to the Longines Kentucky Oaks.

Dorth Vader next took the lead in the stretch of the Gulfstream Park Oaks Presented by FanDuel TV but faded to finish fourth and then followed with a fifth-place finish in the Longines Kentucky Oaks. She was then narrowly defeated by Kentucky Oaks winner Pretty Mischievous in the Grade 1, $500,000 Acorn Stakes Presented by Great Jones Distilling Co. on June 9 at Belmont Park.

Dorth Vader is trained by Michael Yates. She was bred in Florida by the sire Girvin out of the mare Hardcore Candy by Yonaguska.