Hancock has two shots at stakes win in Prairie Gold Lassie

In a career dating to 1981, trainer John Hancock never has won a stakes race, but he appears to have two live chances in the $65,000 Prairie Gold Lassie on Thursday night at Prairie Meadows.

The field of eight 2-year-old fillies entered to run six furlongs includes two Hancock-trained starters, Waki Patriot and Amberspatriot. Both exit the $100,000 Debutante Stakes at Churchill, where Waki Patriot finished third to Amberspatriot’s sixth, but the Debutante was contested over a sloppy track and might not tell a true tale. Amberspatriot, in fact, finished two lengths in front of Waki Patriot in the Kentucky Juvenile Stakes in May and has made only three starts to Waki Patriot’s five.

Another option: Neither Patriot wins. There are other options, to be sure. Bret Calhoun sent out his best Texas-bred 2-year-old, Galactica, to win a statebred-restricted stakes Saturday night at Lone Star, but he put another Texas-bred debut winner, the filly Howboutthiscowgirl, on the road to Prairie Meadows. Howboutthiscowgirl overcame trouble to win going away June 25 at Lone Star.

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The Gold Lassie goes as race 8 at 9:12 p.m. Central.

Stakes-quality turfers at Canterbury

Hay Dakota won the $100,000 Mystic Lake Mile in his most recent start, yet he is far from a sure thing in the featured fourth race on Thursday night at Canterbury Park.

Hay Dakota is one of seven entered in a 1 1/16-mile turf race with multiple allowance conditions, a $35,000 claiming option – and a stakes-level field.

Hay Dakota, trained by Joel Berndt for Alice Mettler, won the Grade 3 Commonwealth Turf last fall at Churchill at odds of 29-1, but the 4-year-old has come back to validate that performance this summer. He made a strong bid around the turn to take the lead in the Mystic Lake Mile, holding form to win by a neck, and off a five-week break, he seems set to deliver a similar showing Thursday.

But there’s no guarantee. Patriots Rule was fifth in the Mystic Lake Mile but could win if Hay Dakota runs back to his May 27 Canterbury turf form, and an even greater danger is Majestic Pride. Majestic Pride, trained by Mac Robertson, lost by a head in the Mystic Lake Mile and is almost certain to get first run on Hay Dakota on Thursday evening.

◗ Nine are entered in race 7, a very competitive second-level dirt-sprint allowance with a $50,000 claiming option, on the Thursday card at Indiana Grand. The six-furlong race looks wildly competitive on paper, but if the fast-working Torazo returns from a freshening with a performance like he delivered last Sept. 16 at Indiana Grand, he can pull off an upset.