Large cast assembles for Dixie Stakes

BALTIMORE – They might have had trouble rounding up enough horses for the Preakness Stakes, but that certainly wasn’t the case when it came to the Grade 2, $300,000 Dixie Stakes for older males on the turf.

An overflow field of 16 was entered Wednesday for the Dixie, one of seven stakes on the undercard of Saturday’s $1.5 million Preakness program at Pimlico. Only 14 will be permitted to start in the Dixie, scheduled for 1 1/16 miles on turf and the 12th race on the card, directly preceding the Preakness.

Lochte and Up With the Birds are Grade 1 winners, but the race features a rematch between Aripeka, Long On Value, and Legendary, the second-, third-, and fourth-place finishers behind Jack Milton in the Grade 1 Maker’s 46 Mile at Keeneland on April 10.

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Long On Value could be an emerging talent for Bill Mott. He won the Grade 3 Canadian Turf at Gulfstream from off the pace before racing on the lead in the Maker’s 46 Mile and fading to third in a race run over soft turf. He got saddled with post 12 for the Dixie.

Another emerging talent is War Correspondent, who won the Grade 3 Appleton by a neck over Aripeka. He got stuck in post 13.

Skyring, who upset the 2013 Dixie at 24-1, is back in.

Gallorette draws 13

Watsdachances, second in the Grade 3 Gallorette Handicap last spring, and Hard Not to Like, second in the 2013 Gallorette, top a 13-horse field of fillies and mares entered for Saturday’s 64th renewal of the $150,000 Gallorette, scheduled for 1 1/16 miles on turf.

This year, Hard Not to Like was disqualified from a win in the Grade 3 Endeavour and then finished third in the Grade 1 Jenny Wiley, a race she won last year. She drew post 7.

Watsdachances, who won her first two starts in this country at age 2, has only gone 1 for 11 since. She has not raced since finishing fourth in last year’s Grade 1 Flower Bowl Invitational at Belmont Park. She’ll break from post 8.

Sistas Stroll, the winner of the Grade 3 Pucker Up last year, makes her second start off a layoff for Tom Proctor. Other contenders include Emotional Kitten, Mango Diva, Run of the River, and Cat’s Claw.

Happy My Way seeks repeat

Happy My Way looks to end a year of frustrating defeats and earn a repeat victory in Saturday’s Grade 3, $150,000 Maryland Sprint Championship.

Since his victory here, Happy My Way has lost six straight, including runner-up finishes in the Grade 1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt at Saratoga and Frank De Francis Memorial Dash at Laurel. In two starts this year, he has a third in the Sunshine Millions Sprint and a second in the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Sprint.

In an eight-horse field, he’ll have to fend off the late run of Coup de Grace, a multiple graded stakes- winning sprinter who is coming off a third-place finish in a third-level allowance race at Fair Grounds in March.

In other stakes:

◗ Donworth and Fame and Power, second and third behind Preakness contender Divining Rod in the Lexington Stakes at Keeneland, head a field of nine entered in the $100,000 Sir Barton Stakes for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles on dirt.

Bold Conquest, third behind American Pharoah and Madefromlucky in the Rebel Stakes, drew post 5, while Fame and Power drew the rail and Donworth drew post 6.

◗ Holy Boss, the winner of the Bachelor Stakes at Oaklawn, and Gimme Da Lute, the winner of the Echo Eddie Stakes at Santa Anita, top a field of 11 entered in the $100,000 Chick Lang Stakes for 3-year-olds at six furlongs.

◗ Ageless, who won the The Very One last year, and Shrinking Violet, the winner of the Grade 2 Monrovia at Santa Anita in January, head a field of 11 entered for the $100,000 The Very One at five furlongs on the turf.

◗ Force the Pass, the winner of the Cutler Pass Stakes at Gulfstream Park, and Bluegrass Singer, the winner of the Parx Derby, head a field of eight entered in the $100,000 James Murphy for 3-year-olds scheduled for a mile on the turf.