Prairie Gold Juvenile a tricky puzzle

The Prairie Gold Juvenile on Friday evening at Prairie Meadows drew a solid field for a $65,000 stakes – solid, diverse, and tough to figure.

The eight 2-year-olds entered in the six-furlong race last raced at five different venues, and seven of them won their most recent start. Envoyer is listed as the strong 7-5 morning-line favorite but could drift higher as the top choices in the betting figure to be closely clustered.

Steve Asmussen trains Envoyer, who won his most recent start by more than four lengths. But that win came at Indiana Grand, and Asmussen obviously runs his best young horses in Kentucky and New York through the spring and summer. Moreover, Envoyer finished second at Indiana while making his career debut and is no sure thing to make the lead Wednesday like he did in winning last out.

Ducat, priced at an unlikely 10-1 on the line, has a race over the Prairie Meadows surface – albeit when the track was sloppy – and it was a good one. Debuting on June 16 for the Arlington-based Mike Stidham, Ducat disputed the early pace before drawing clear to win by three lengths, and he was flattered when the second-place horse, Divine Kaleb, who is part of Friday’s field, returned to win a Prairie Meadows maiden sprint by more than seven lengths July 9. Ducat has since posted two encouraging drills at Arlington and has a strong chance at a fair price.

Brave Benny also comes in from Arlington, and like Ducat, he won his debut in June by open lengths. But that win came over Arlington’s Polytrack, and Brave Benny, in addition to stretching out from 4 1/2 furlongs, must prove his ability on dirt.

Also worthy of note is the filly Bella’s Back, who was cross-entered in the Prairie Gold Lassie on Thursday. Bella’s Back blew the break while making her career debut July 3 at Canterbury Park and appeared hopelessly far behind in the race’s early stages, but she made a sustained, powerful rally to win going away, and this is the time of year when talented 2-year-old fillies often have an edge on their male counterparts.