US Weekend Preview: Gypsy Robin Keene for Raven success

It's a fairly quiet weekend for North American racing, but there are still plenty of Graded races on offer

Something of a calm before the storm in the US this weekend, but there are still some interesting races scheduled. Chris Williams elaborates.

With the Breeders' Cup about to appear over the horizon, there is a lack of top competition in North America this weekend and the Lexus Raven Run Stakes at Keeneland on Saturday (race 9, 17.21 local time, 10.21 BST) is one of only two graded races. It is a Grade 2 event for three-year-old fillies run over seven furlongs on the polytrack and it features Gypsy Robin, whom British racegoers may remember running in the Queen Mary Stakes at Royal Ascot last year. She was only seventh behind Best Terms that day but has done much better since, winning three times, including the Grade 2 Beaumont Stakes here in April from Sacristy. Gypsy Robin's latest run was at Saratoga in the Grade 1 Test Stakes, in which she raced without blinkers for the first time and finished a creditable two lengths second to Contested.

Via Villaggio has plenty of form in graded races of late, winning the Grade 3 Railbird Stakes at Hollywood in May and finishing a creditable fourth behind Love And Pride in the Grade 1 Zenyatta Stakes at Santa Anita last time. That was over 8.5f and this race will be a step back down to seven furlongs for the first time since the Railbird.

Killer Graces is a Grade 1 winner (the Hollywood Starlet last December) but hasn't been at her best since the spring. La Tia is a front runner who has won four of her five races for her new trainer this year, including the Grade 3 Arlington Oaks over nine furlongs but will need to cope with this step down in trip.

Sweet Cat was third to Stephanie's Kitten in the one mile Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf at Churchill Downs last year, form which would give her a chance on her synthetics debut here but she has been below her best of late, though her last four races have been over five/six furlongs.

The most valuable race at Belmont is the Empire Classic (race 9, 5.13 local time, 10.13 BST), a $250,000 event restricted to New York-breds. Vying for favouritism are the former John Gosden-trained Lunar Victory and the lightly-raced Saratoga Snacks. Lunar Victory has been much improved in the States this year, winning four of his five starts and finishing second to Saginaw, despite a stumble at the start, in a restricted stakes here last time. Saratoga Snacks was beaten on his debut last year, but has won all four of his starts since, the latest an allowance race here in September by four lengths, and further improvement stepped up in class looks on the cards.

Charles Town hosts the West Virginia Breeders' Classics meeting, restricted to to those bred in West Virginia, the highlight being the $500,000 West Virginia Breeders' Classic (race 8, 10.45 local time, 03.45 BST) over nine furlongs. Most of the contenders are Charles Town stalwarts and the two who stand out on Timeform ratings are Russell Road and Lucy's Bob Boy. The former, a six-year-old gelding who won this contest in 2009 and 2011 and finished fourth the year in between, has won three of his four races this year, the latest a restricted stakes in August from Son Of A Bear. Lucy's Bob Boy has yet to finish out of the first two in nine races and has won his last five in a row, including a $35,000 handicap last month by five lengths. Victory here would almost quadruple his lifetime earnings, but he's facing a two-furlong step up in trip.