Hi, Alice, allow me to address the source of your confusion. Native speakers speak “automatically”, so are generally not consciously aware of how they pronounce their own language. As a phonologist, I would like to point out to you that the difference between the pronunciation of “raised” and “raced” is not just the final consonant cluster (/zd/ versus /st/), but really the length of the preceding vowel. This is true in all varieties of native English, and in some varieties this difference in vowel length is far more important than the quality of the final consonants. As a non-native speaker, your lack of bias should allow you to hear the difference more easily than a native. If you’re interested in mastering this skill, listen to the recordings below, and you tell me which word has a longer vowel sound: