Raven Run serves as Breeders' Cup audition for Venetian Harbor

LEXINGTON, Ky. – Richard Baltas is hoping Venetian Harbor shows she’s worthy of running in the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint, but first things first.

“We’re just trying to win a race,” Baltas said. “That’s the first thing.”

Off three straight runner-up finishes, Venetian Harbor has shipped from her Southern California base to Keeneland for the Grade 3, $200,000 Raven Run, a seven-furlong race in which 10 3-year-old fillies will clash Saturday.

“If she runs well and bounces out of the race okay, we will eye the Breeders’ Cup,” said Baltas, referring to the Nov. 7 BC Filly and Mare Sprint going the same distance at Keeneland.

Venetian Harbor, with Manny Franco to ride, will break from post 5 in the 22nd Raven Run, the ninth of 10 Saturday races. The speedy Munnings filly arrived here Tuesday via equine charter.

The connections of several of her opponents also are hoping to advance three weeks later to the Filly and Mare Sprint, most notably Four Graces, winner of the Beaumont at Keeneland in July.

:: Click to learn about our DRF's Free Past Performance program.

From the rail, this is the Raven Run lineup: Never Forget, Four Graces, Secondary Market, Finite, Venetian Harbor, Reagan’s Edge, Tonalist’s Shape, Fair Maiden, Grand Cru Classe, and Secret Keeper.

Conspicuous by her absence from the Raven Run lineup is Sconsin, winner of the Grade 2 Eight Belles last month over Four Graces. Travis Foley, assistant to his father, trainer Greg Foley, said the intention is to train the Include filly straight into the Filly and Mare Sprint.

The Raven Run is the penultimate stakes on the Keeneland fall-meet schedule, with the Grade 3 Dowager on Sunday being the last one. No stakes will be run during the final four-day stretch (Oct. 21-24) of the 17-day fall meet. Churchill Downs begins its fall meet Oct. 25.

Solid Friday undercard

Leading up to the Grade 3 Valley View, back-to-back allowances will directly precede the Friday feature at Keeneland – and both have morning-line favorites who might be susceptible to a mild upset.

Explorer is the 5-2 program choice in race 7, a $73,000, second-level turf sprint, despite never having raced on turf. The 5-year-old gelding returned last month from a 14-month layoff with a solid runner-up effort in a main-track race at Churchill. A couple of 3-year-olds drawn just outside of him in an 11-horse field, Artemus Citylimits and Competitive Saint, look like the main opposition.

Honest Mischief is the 9-5 program favorite in race 8, a $78,000 allowance with a somewhat rare “four-other-than” restriction among its hybrid conditions. It took the disqualification of a tough-luck Lasting Legacy in his last start for Honest Mischief to knock out his third allowance condition, and now he faces such capable sorts as Cool Arrow, Manny Wah, and Admiral Lynch on the token class raise here.

Correas to winter in New Orleans

Ignacio Correas intends to split his stable this winter between Fair Grounds and Kentucky, forsaking another winter at Tampa Bay Downs, where the trainer has won 28 races over the past four years. Correas cited a low purse structure at Tampa as a primary reason for the switch.

“When you come out of Tampa, you need to have very good horses to compensate during the rest of the year,” he said. “I’ll have some of my best horses, my grass horses, in New Orleans, and split up the rest between Keeneland and Turfway.”