Virginia Joy (GER)

After a successful 3-year-old campaign in her home country of Germany, including a win in the Group 3 Mehl-Mulhens Trophy Stakes, Virginia Joy was shipped to the United States and was transferred to trainer Chad Brown for her 4-year-old season in 2021. She started her year with a win in a second-level, allowance-optional claiming race at Belmont Park on Apr. 23, and ended her season with a narrow nose defeat in the River Memories Stakes at Belmont Park on July 11.

After an eight-month layoff, Virginia Joy returned to the races for her 5-year-old campaign and was the odds-on favorite in the Grade 3 The Very One Stakes at Gulfstream Park on Mar. 5, 2022. After rating off a slow pace, she moved after the leaders in the stretch and rallied to win by a length. Next out, she went gate-to-wire on a yielding turf course to win the Grade 2 Sheepshead Bay Stakes at Belmont Park on May 7 by 14 1/4 lengths.

Virginia Joy followed up her two victories to begin 2022 with a fourth-place finish in the Grade 1 New York Stakes at 1 1/4 miles at Belmont Park on June 10 and then a third-place finish in the Grade 2 Glens Falls at 1 1/2 miles at Saratoga on Aug. 6.

Virginia Joy found her sweet spot at 1 3/8 miles on the Saratoga lawn for the biggest win to date in her career when she went wire-to-wire in the $600,000 Flower Bowl on Sept. 3 over the prohibitive favorite, War Like Goddess, who had defeated her in the Glens Falls.

In the Flower Bowl, Virginia Joy went to the front and was able to slow down the pace to a glacial level in a masterful ride by Irad Ortiz Jr. She had enough left in reserve in the stretch run to hold off War Like Goddess by a neck in a final time of 2:19.51.  The Flower Bowl was a “Win and You’re in” race for the Maker's Mark Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Turf, earning Virginia Joy a guaranteed starting spot in the starting gate on Nov. 5 at Keeneland.