Sam-Son Farm homebred Up With the Birds, winner of the 2013 Sovereign Awards for top Canadian 3-year-old colt and Canadian Horse of the Year, will make his 5-year-old debut in the $300,000 Longines Dixie Stakes (gr. IIT) May 16 at Pimlico Race Course.
The 1 1/16-mile turf race will be the final appetizer on the Xpressbet.com Preakness Stakes (gr. I) undercard, immediately preceding the second jewel of the Triple Crown as the 12th race on Saturday's card.
After a 3-year-old season in which he won four stakes, including the Jamaica Handicap (gr. IT) at Belmont Park, the son of Stormy Atlantic went 1-for-6 in 2014, with his only score being the Nijinsky Stakes (Can-II) at Woodbine. He also finished sixth in last year's Dixie, fourth in the Arlington Million (gr. IT), and second in the Knickerbocker (gr. IIIT). Up With the Birds wrapped up his season with a 16th-place finish in the Japan Cup (Jpn-I) in November.
Previously conditioned by Malcolm Pierce, Up With the Birds will make his debut for trainer Graham Motion. Up With the Birds will break from post 11 in the 14-horse field with jockey Drayden Van Dyke, who will be aboard for the first time.
The rest of the field features plenty of talent, with multiple graded winners Skyring, who won the 2013 edition of the Dixie, grade I winner Lochte, and Long On Value. Challengers with a single graded win include Grand Tito, Legendary, and War Correspondent .
War Correspondent, who will break from post 13 with John Velazquez for trainer Christophe Clement, seems to be carrying the most momentum following a neck victory in the March 28 Appleton Stakes (gr. IIIT) at Gulfstream Park, where the son of War Front defeated fellow Dixie entrants Aripeka (second), Grand Tito (third), and Lochte (seventh).
Another horse coming off two straight wins is 5-year-old Talk Show Man, the only Maryland-bred in the field, who is trained by Hamilton Smith and will break from the far outside with jockey Xavier Perez. The son of Great Notion has won three of his past four races, including scores in the Henry S. Clark Stakes at Pimlico April 18 and the Maryland Million Turf Stakes at Laurel Park Oct. 18. In the only race Talk Show Man didn't win in that stretch—the Richard W. Small Stakes at Laurel Nov. 15—the gelding was bumped entering the lane and fell.
Other stakes winners, Tricky Hat and Beyond Smart, will join allowance winners Ironicus and Cage Fighter, and graded stakes-placed Manchurian High, to complete the field.
Pimlico Race Course, Saturday, May 16, 2015, Race 12Entries: Longines Dixie S. (G2T)
PP Horse Jockey Wgt Trainer M/L 1 1Grand Tito (KY) Victor Espinoza 118 Gustavo Delgado - 2 2Ironicus (KY) Javier Castellano 118 Claude R. McGaughey III - 3 3Cage Fighter (FL) Joe Bravo 118 James L. Lawrence, II - 4 4Aripeka (KY) Julien R. Leparoux 118 Eddie Kenneally - 5 5Tricky Hat (CHI) Trevor McCarthy 118 Claude R. McGaughey III - 6 6Skyring (KY) Corey S. Nakatani 118 D. Wayne Lukas - 7 7Beyond Smart (PA) Victor R. Carrasco 118 Jonathan E. Sheppard - 8 8Lochte (KY) Orlando Bocachica 120 Marcus J. Vitali - 9 9Legendary (GB) Edgar S. Prado 118 Niall Saville - 10 10Manchurian High (FL) Gary L. Stevens 118 Lilli Kurtinecz - 11 11Up With the Birds (ON) Drayden Van Dyke 118 H. Graham Motion - 12 12Long On Value (VA) Joel Rosario 120 William I. Mott - 13 13War Correspondent (KY) John R. Velazquez 120 Christophe Clement - 14 14Talk Show Man (MD) Xavier Perez 118 Hamilton A. Smith - 15 15Chamois (KY) UNKNOWN 118 Christophe Clement - 16 16Our Emerald Forest (IRE) Andrew Wolfsont 118 James M. Day -
