How to bet the Prairie Bayou Stakes on Dec. 18

A deep field of 11 will go 1 1/16 miles on the Turfway Park oval in the $100,000 Prairie Bayou S. The Saturday feature attracted a fine cast in what appears to be a fascinating betting opportunity.

The Mike Maker-trained #8 Cross Border (8-1) is arguably the class of the field and offers too much value to be ignored in this endeavor. A winner of the Bowling Green S. (G2) at Saratoga in July, the son of English Channel has not been in stellar form as of late, but he will thrive with the class relief on Saturday.

Cross Border has endured some positive synthetic experience in the past and could prosper on the surface switch to the Tapeta after knocking heads with some of the better turf horses in training over the past two campaigns. The dark bay possesses tactical speed to stay in touch in the early going, and I envision the Empire State-bred moving into prime contention at the top of the lane with Alex Achard in the silks. A contested early pace is expected on Saturday, which will only aid the top selection.

#2 Big Dreaming (4-1) looked the part in his local debut when dominating allowance foes most recently for conditioner Wayne Catalano. The bay son of Declaration of War is a versatile sort who is really coming into his own, and he has room for improvement with just 11 lifetime races under his belt so far. The Kentucky-bred colt drilled a bullet five panels in his most recent morning move.

#4 Snapper Sinclair (3-1), the morning-line choice, will make his initial synthetic try to date in this contest. The Steve Asmussen pupil is a high-level horse who has performed considerably well on both turf and dirt, and he gets a pass for being a non-factor in the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1) last time out. The City Zip six-year-old will improve with Rafael Bejarano in the silks.

A horse with robust value is #11 Betwithbothhands (30-1), who drew widest of all in the field. The Uncle Mo gelding is not overly consistent, but he is very capable on his best day, and the five-year-old is also 4-for-8 lifetime on the all-weather tracks. The speedy sort will have to be very good on Saturday to overcome his starting slot but is worth tossing in at huge odds.

Prairie Bayou Wagers

$1 superfecta 8 with 2,4 with 2,4,11 with all ($32)
50-cent superfecta 8 with 2,4 with all with 2,4,11 ($16)
50-cent superfecta 2,4 with 8 with 2,4,11 with all ($16)