Flyback diode placement for solenoid valve simulation circuit
Your top diagram is a more accurate simulation of a coil with its distributed resistance plus external Schottky diode, but the bottom one might work too and is maybe a bit safer in case of reversal (though there is no guarantee the driver would survive passing several A rather than few hundred mA).
I'm not sure why you would add a diode if you are sure there is no diode in the solenoid you are replacing, but it should do no harm.
Whatever you do, I would check and double/triple check the polarity vs. diode orientation. Then go back and check it again. I once got an axial-lead diode direct from a Taiwan factory that was working perfectly well, but marked backwards, in one of several boxes of 1,000 (discovered during failure analysis of a rare production fallout). That had to have happened after automated testing but before marking.