A field of 10 sophomores signed up to contest the Dixieland, none with more experience than Sir Laff
Alot, who concluded 2004 with an eye-popping 7 3/4-length allowance score at Keeneland in October. The son of the A.P. Indy stallion General Royal is trained by Bob Holthus, who won the Dixieland in 1964 with One Dot.

Breaking from the far outside post will be Cherokee Path, an allowance winner at Churchill Downs in November who has run evenly in the Boyd Gaming Delta Jackpot at Delta Downs and the Sugar Bowl at Fair Grounds since. Smoke Smoke Smoke took the Canterbury Juvenile in July and acquitted himself well in a pair of Arlington Park stakes in August. This will mark his first start since then.

Stormy But Crafty is riding a two-race win streak at Louisiana Downs, where he took the Razorback Futurity in October. City Code has flashed considerable speed in his last four starts, and won the Prairie Meadows Freshman Stakes in September.

The field for the Dixieland, in post position order with riders and weights: