Prairie Meadows Juvenile marks an early two-turn test

It’s early in the year for a two-turn dirt race for 2-year-olds. And if you doubt that assertion, check out the past performances for the $65,000 Prairie Meadows Juvenile.

Seven were entered in the one mile and 70-yard race, carded as the eighth of nine (post time 9:07) on Prairie’s Friday night card, and none have raced around two turns on the main track. Which is not surprising. Two-turn dirt racing for the baby set is much more a thing of the autumn than the summer, and that makes this as much a guessing game as a handicapping exercise.

The morning-line favorite is once-started Prince Pierce, and he does appear the most likely winner. Trained by Kevin Eikleberry for owner Mark Breen, Prince Pierce debuted in a 5 1/2-furlong maiden special weight July 26 at Prairie, was bet to odds-on favoritism, and proceeded to demonstrate why, running off to an 8 1/2-length win. Prince Pierce will have Terry Thompson in the irons Friday replacing suspended David Cabrera, and at least has a pedigree hinting this distance will fall within his scope. Prince Pierce is by the first-crop sire Cairo Prince, who successfully ran long during a relatively brief career, and both his dam and his only sibling to race, while limited in ability, showed comparable form in sprints and routes.

Castlewood Terrace is the lone horse with two-turn experience, his having come in a turf maiden win July 13 at Arlington, summer base of his trainer, Cheryl Winebaugh. Castlewood Terrace got a lowly 37 Beyer Speed Figure for that performance, but the pace of the race was slow enough to rule out anything resembling a quick final time.

Mr Wrench It has stamina in his pedigree (by Lookin At Lucky and out of the Tapit mare, Candle Maker), and racing with blinkers removed for his third start he improved to win a Thistledown maiden race July 17.

Gorgeouswitha G, a filly, will at least show speed, while Mr Chocolate Chip managed a second June 30 in the Grade 3 Bashford Manor at Churchill, a race in which he was a 103-1 shot. And Eikleberry, Prince Pierce’s trainer, also entered an unraced maiden, Sammy’s Dream. Maybe he knows something we don’t – which, in this race, would not be saying much.