Keeneland already had its 100-point prep last week, the Blue Grass (G2), but it also offers one final 20-8-4-2 point prep this Saturday for horses on the bubble who want to make one final bid to get in the field.  That race, the Lexington Stakes (G3), forms the focus of this piece.

Though no Illinois-breds have won this race, its winners have included a pair of graded stakes winners at Arlington: 1991 winner Hansel had won the Arlington-Washington Futurity (G2) the year before, and 2006 winner Showing Up showed up to Arlington and annexed the Secretariat Stakes (G1).  Back in its Calumet Purse days, it also produced a graded stakes winner at Hawthorne: Sensitive Prince went on to win the 1978 Hawthorne Derby (G3).

Head over to Picks and Ponderings, read my preview of the Lexington Stakes, and let me know your thoughts in the comments!

Though the three-year-old trails visit Aqueduct, Keeneland, and Santa Anitaon Saturday, make sure to save some energy for Sunday’s action, as well.  The Grade 3 Beaumont Stakes is the second of two Oaks preps to be run opening weekend at Keeneland.  Unlike Saturday’s Ashland, and other recent preps, it does not offer enough points to get its winner into the big race — but for horses on the bubble, the 10-4-2-1 points allocated to the top four finishers would theoretically be enough to get a horse on the bubble into the gate.  “Theoretically” is the key word, however, as this year’s field of nine in the Beaumont lacks Oaks prospects, but features a mix of sprinters and horses who took a long winter layoff and make their seasonal bow here.

Head over to Picks and Ponderings, read my preview of Sunday’s Beaumont Stakes, and let me know your thoughts in the comments!

This Saturday’s featured race at Keeneland is the Grade 2 Raven Run Stakes. The race has been run since 1999, and has always been a seven-furlong sprint for three-year-old fillies over the Keeneland main track. It earned Grade 3 status in 2002, and gained its current Grade 2 designation in 2006. The race takes its name from Raven Run, a nature sanctuary about half an hour’s drive from Keeneland. To date, the most accomplished winner of the Raven Run has been Informed Decision (2008). This race was the last of her three-year-old career, but she returned the next year to win six of her seven starts, including the Breeders’ Cup Filly and Mare Sprint (G1), and capture the 2009 Eclipse Award for Champion Female Sprinter. Of local interest, Informed Decision also won the Chicago Handicap (G3) in both 2009 and 2010.  The 2015 winner, Ingrid Mason trainee Sarah Sis, also won the Chicago Handicap the following year.

This year’s edition of the Raven Run offers a $250,000 purse once again, and eleven sophomore fillies passed the entry box. The Raven Run is the second to last chance for three-year-old filly sprinters to compete in graded company against their own age group. The only such race remaining is the La Brea Stakes (G1) at Santa Anita, typically run late in December.

Head over to Picks and Ponderings, read my preview of the Raven Run Stakes, and let me know your thoughts in the comments!

Opening weekend at Keeneland, with its stakes-laden Fall Stars cards, takes place this weekend.

We will have picks for all nine graded races at Keeneland Friday through Sunday, and detailed analysis of the Woodford Stakes (G2).  The Woodford is as classy a turf sprint as you’ll see in the United States outside the Breeders’ Cup.  Particularly since the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint will be a more traditional turf dash and not a gallop down the Santa Anita hill, it should be a key prep.

Last year’s edition of the Woodford featured an exacta of Chicago mainstays: 2015 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint winner MONGOLIAN SATURDAY held off the late run of old warrior HOGY.  Both of them are part of this year’s nine-horse field.  Also among the Chicago locals in this year’s edition is the 2014 Woodford runner-up MONGOL BULL, still with owner/trainer Bradlee Rainwater, and trying to do three years ago one better.

Head over to Picks and Ponderings, read my preview of the Woodford Stakes, and let me know your thoughts in the comments!

The three-year-old prep season heats up even more this weekend, with the Blue Grass (G2) and the Ashland (G1) at Keeneland!

The Blue Grass drew a field of just seven, but four of those seven are top names on many Kentucky Derby lists: undefeated McCraken, classy Practical Joke, pricey Tapwrit, and New York invader J Boys Echo.  The Ashland, which drew eight, will be Daddys Lil Darling’s return to the main track, and Grade 1 winner Pretty City Dancer’s last shot to guarantee a gate in the Oaks.

Head over to Picks and Ponderings, read my preview of Saturday’s Derby and Oaks prep action at Keeneland, and let me know what you think in the comments!