Ironicus handles class rise to capture Dixie

BALTIMORE – It was vintage Shug McGaughey, an old-school trainer who still cleaves to traditional methods of developing racehorses. McGaughey is patient, doesn’t rush, and, even with a horse that shows talent, and looks like a future stakes runner, uses allowance conditions to bring horses to a peak.

That’s the portrait of Ironicus, who, at age 4 and in his eighth start, made his stakes debut in the Dixie Stakes on Saturday at Pimlico and won it with aplomb.

Given a beautiful ride by Javier Castellano, Ironicus sat behind a bunched pack of horses into the far turn, crept up along the inside round the bend, tipped two wide to split horses in midstretch, and stormed to a going-away victory in the Grade 2, $300,000 Dixie.

McGaughey wasn’t on hand, but Castellano heaped praise on his mount. “I really like this horse. He’s very professional,” he said, and, asked if Ironicus could handle a rise in class to the Grade 1 level, Castellano assented. “I think he earned that chance today.”

Skyring set the pace in the Dixie, laying down splits of 23.69 seconds, 48.14, and 1:11.95 while pressed by Talk Show Man and Chamois, but the pacesetters would have no final say. Ironicus was closer to the front five furlongs for home than he was at the half-mile pole, Castellano biding his time and looking for seams, but when Ironicus started to roll, saving precious ground, he steadily picked off rivals. Finally clear of traffic the final half-furlong, he blasted home, clocking 1:40.53 for 1 1/16 miles on a firm, fast-playing turf.

Cage Fighter, a 25-1 shot, finished second, while Up With the Birds, making his first start after a layoff, and racing wide, was up for third. Ironicus paid $16.20 to win.

A Stuart Janney homebred by Distorted Humor out of the good turf racemare Meghan’s Joy – also trained by McGaughey – Ironicus had finished first, second, or third in his six turf starts following a dud of a dirt debut. Assistant trainer Robbie Medina said Ironicus “had a little injury last year” which cost the colt several months, and returning from a shorter break this spring at Keeneland, Ironicus finished second in a second-level allowance race. The turf was soft that day, and Castellano cited a winner who had slipped loose on the lead as the main reason for Ironicus’s defeat. There was no doubt who was best Saturday, Ironicus looking like a colt from whom more could be heard later this summer, his connections likely to stretch him out in distance.

Grand Tito, who resisted being saddled in the indoor paddock, acted up in the gate and had to be scratched by track veterinarians.