Movie Night becomes stakes winner with Raven Run

Movie Night began her career this past April at Keeneland finishing second in a maiden race, and she put an exclamation mark on it Saturday at Keeneland by winning the Raven Run Stakes.

A very troubled sixth in the Grade 1 Test and a very game and close third in the Grade 3 Dogwood, Movie Night won her first stakes race of any kind in the Grade 2, $400,000 Raven Run, a seven-furlong dash for 3-year-old fillies.

Movie Night, Flavien Prat riding for WinStar Farm and trainer Will Walden, clocked 1:23.28 over a slow-playing track that was rated fast, running nearly one second faster than the colt Dr. Kapur had in winning the Perryville Stakes two races earlier.

Mythical made a beeline for the early lead, got it, set splits of 22.75 and 45.84, and held well for second. Rail-drawn Army’s Marauder, a 51-1 shot, plugged along admirably to finish third. Conceit, who had edged Movie Night in the Dogwood, finished fourth, with 2-1 favorite Mashallah, who reared slightly in the gate just before the start and got away last, a brave fifth.

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Keeneland posted the inquiry and objection sign regarding Mashallah’s start, but there did not appear to be anything to object to, and stewards surely were determining whether an assistant starter still had a hold of Mashallah when the gate opened. No change was made.

Movie Night ($9.84 as the third choice) raced greenly in her April unveiling and finished second, then scored eye-catching victories in maiden and first-level allowance competition, earning a start in the Test, where she stumbled after breaking from the rail and rushed up to contest the pace before retreating through the homestretch. In the Dogwood she went head and head with Test winner Explora from the three-furlong marker to the wire, Conceit taking advantage of the duel to rally late and win.

In the Raven Run, Movie Night did not come close to contesting the pace, stalking several lengths behind Mythical while racing outside in the clear.

“She settled very nicely -- almost too nicely,” Prat said. “It got me a bit worried.”

Movie Night, it turned out, still had her head in the game, but after moving into second before the quarter pole, she still had Mythical to reel in. Mythical cornered for home still full of run, and Movie Night, edging ever closer, did not collar her until the pair passed the furlong marker, Movie Night drawing clear in the final stages.

Army’s Marauder, coming out of a modestly rated maiden win, stalked the pace and never left the rail, earning a surprising graded-stakes placing.

A homebred, Movie Night is by Speightstown out of Savvy Star, by the recently deceased Medaglia d’Oro. She began her career at Keeneland in the spring and made her career at Keeneland in the fall.

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