Raven Haven – Raven Run Stakes Preview

October may be most noted for playoff baseball and apple crisp but the return of racing at Keenland is not too far behind! While the spring meet may take more of a precedent with Kentucky Derby preps, the fall meet at Keenland does not disappoint. Saturday’s feature is the grade II Raven Run stakes for three year old fillies. Seven furlongs over the all weather track will be a tricky test as the surface and distance pose questions for most of the capacity field of fourteen. Here is my take:

On paper, it appears as if almost half the field is going to battle for early supremacy. #2 ASSATEAGUE (15-1), #3 LA TIA (8-1), #5 YANKEE UNION (30-1), #11 GYPSY ROBIN (3-1) and #12 MONONO (20-1) all look like they want the top spot from the blocks. Given all the speed in the race, it leads to me #1 SWEET CAT (6-1) and #10 VIA VILLAGGIO (4-1) as my top selections.

#1 SWEET CAT is trained by Todd Pletcher and that alone is worthy of a play, but her stalking running style fits the dynamic of the race perfectly. While she has never run on the synthetic, she’s been effective on the turf and at distances from 5 ½ to 8 ½ furlongs which is important given the race distance of 7 furlongs.

#10 VIA VILLAGGIO is similar to #1 SWEET CAT in that she likes to stalk the pace and make a late move, but is better in the sense that she has won at this distance previously and has run and won over a synthetic surface before. Not to mention a bullet drill about a week back as a final prep for this race.

The race sets up perfectly for someone sitting back off the lead and when the race falls apart, #1 SWEET CAT and #10 VIA VILLAGGIO should be there to pick up the pieces and round out a solid exacta play!

Good Luck!