Raise Cain fights back to hold off Dr. Venkman in Perryville

Raise Cain prevailed by a head over Dr. Venkman after a stretch-long duel to win Saturday's $250,000 Perryville at Keeneland. 

Trained by Ben Colebrook and ridden by Luis Saez, Raise Cain covered the 7 furlongs on a fast main track in 1:23.58.

Verifying and Confidence Game zipped an opening half-mile in 45.69 seconds, with Dr. Venkman racing three-wide just behind the leaders and Raise Cain saving ground in fourth.

On the turn, Dr. Venkman went after the top two with Raise Cain tipping off the inside and moving just behind Dr. Venkman.

At the top of the stretch, those two hooked up with Raise Cain owning the initial momentum to stick his head in front only to have Dr. Venkman battle back to hold a narrow edge through the lane until Raise Cain pushed by for good in the final 20 yards.

Trainer Ben Colebrook said the cut back in distance from the 1 1/8-mile Oklahoma Derby on Sept. 24 may have made the difference.

“I think it’s probably what he wants to do," he said. "His only wins were around one turn. He got us to the (Kentucky) Derby and he’s been such an overachieving horse, he really deserved it. I think (jockey) Luis Saez made the difference. He rode him great. I mean, all the riders have ridden him well, but Luis gives you that just extra little bit. That’s probably what we needed today.”

A Keeneland sales graduate, Raise Cain is a Kentucky-bred son of Violence out of the Lemon Drop Kid mare Lemon Belle. Winner of the Gotham (G3) this spring, Raise Cain notched his second stakes victory and improved his record to 13-3-2-1 and boosted his earnings to $577,066 with Saturday’s $153,063 check.

Raise Cain returned $14.88, $5.56 and $4.04. Dr. Venkman, sent off as the favorite under John Velazquez, returned $3.16 and $3.06 and finished 1¼ lengths in front of Post Time, who paid $4.84 to show under Sheldon Russell.

It was another 5 1/2 lengths back to Loyal Company with Verifying and Confidence Game following in order.