Raven Run Stakes 2016: Odds and Picks

The $250,000 Grade 2 Lexus Raven Run Stakes is Keeneland’s feature race tomorrow. The field includes 12 three-year-old fillies running seven furlongs on the dirt, with many trying to step up to a graded stakes win for the first time. Zipse at the Track, who last week tabbed Erupt, the 12-1 winner of the Grade 1 Pattison Canadian International, as his top pick, also sees the potential for great value in the Raven Run. There’s a lot of speed in this extended sprint, and Brian believes 30-1 Malibu Stacy has a good chance of getting into the exotics, if not winning the race outright.

Raven Run odds and post positions are below as seen on the HRN Stakes Tracker.

After breaking her maiden at Belmont Park back in June, Malibu Stacy finished second by a neck a month later in her first stakes attempt, the Grade 3 Victory Ride. The Tizway filly then posted a 1 ¼ length allowance victory going seven furlongs at Saratoga before taking a shot on turf in the Christiecat Stakes, where she finished ninth. Throwing out the last race, Malibu Stacy should return to her previous form switching back to dirt for the Raven Run.

In order to win, Malibu Stacy will have to beat proven fillies, including morning line favorite Lightstream, who already has a win at seven furlongs over Keeneland's track. Lightstream won her race debut in March of this year and went on to take the Grade 3 Beaumont Stakes and the Soaring Softly Stakes. She then stretched out in the Grade 1 Mother Goose to run third before shortening up again in the Grade 1 Test Stakes, where she barely lost to late running longshot Paola Queen.

The lightly raced Lucy N Ethel hopes to stay unbeaten in the Raven Run, which will be her fifth career start. After winning the Grade 3 Old Hat Stakes in January, following a maiden and allowance score at the end of 2015, Lucy N Ethel did not return to the races until the end of the Saratoga meet. Even after eight months off, she was able to post a ½ length victory in the Grade 2 Prioress Stakes.

Stepping up to graded stakes company is Southern Girl. The daughter of Tapit enters the Raven Run off a win in the Shine Again Stakes, her first stakes attempt. After breaking her maiden in September of last year and finishing third in a Keeneland allowance the following month, Southern Girl did not race again until July of this year. She won two more allowance races before stepping up in the Sine Again, and takes another step up going into tomorrow’s race.

By Christine Oser