Trio of Grade I Winners Top Deep Dixie

A forecast for steady rain in the Baltimore area Saturday did little to dampen enthusiasm for the GII Longines Dixie S., which attracted a field of 13 veteran turfers entered for the 1 1/16-mile test. Although the GI Preakness S. remains the main event to be held one hour later, the Dixie boasts significant quality of its own, with three Grade I winners amongst the field.

One top-level performer who should appreciate a rain-softened turf course is Jim and Susan Hill's Grand Arch (Arch), making his 2016 debut after over six months spent on the sidelines. The 7-year-old gelding became a Grade I winner with a narrow score over the yielding Keeneland turf in the GI Shadwell Turf Mile last October and followed with a third-place run over that same course and distance in the GI Breeders' Cup Mile 28 days later. After wintering at his owners' Margaux Farm, Grand Arch has been working steadily dating back to mid-March in preparation for this return to action.

“He's a horse, if you look back over his form, some of his best races have been when he's fresh,” trainer Brian Lynch told the Pimlico notes team. “Hopefully, it's a comeback race and it'll kick off a good campaign ahead of him this year.”

Like Grand Arch, St. Elias Stable and West Point Thoroughbreds' Ring Weekend (Tapit) returns from an extended layoff in the Dixie. Unraced since capturing the GI Frank E. Kilroe Mile S. in March 2015, the Graham Motion trainee answered any questions about his ability to perform off a layoff when he won that race off four months on the sidelines. Motion has demonstrated prowess of his own with layoff runners, recently saddling Miss Temple City (Temple City) to a score over male foes in the GI Maker's 46 Mile S. after a half-year break.

Colts Neck Stables homebred Force the Pass (Speightstown), winner of last July's GI Belmont Derby, completes the trio of Grade I winners in the field. The consistent colt followed his Belmont Derby win with a pair of third-place finishes in the GI Secretariat S. and GII Commonwealth Derby to close out 2015, and recently returned from a respite to check in third again as the favorite in Gulfstream's GIII Appleton S. over a good turf course. Force the Pass was entered in the GIII Fort Marcy S. at Belmont May 7 and subsequently scratched due to yielding turf conditions–something that he could possibly encounter Saturday as well.

“It looked like… the turf was going to be soft [at Belmont], so we decided to skip it,” said trainer Alan Goldberg, who won the Dixie in 2010 with Strike a Deal (Smart Strike). “We decided to run down here. He's doing very well.”

Hall of Fame conditioner Bill Mott has won the Dixie three times previously, and will saddle both GII Muniz Memorial H. winner Take the Stand (Arg) (Not For Sale {Arg}) and two-time graded stakes winner Long on Value (Value Plus) in this year's running. The former has rounded into form in 2016 with a runner-up effort in the GIII Tampa Bay S. prior to his win in New Orleans Mar. 26, while the latter has gone winless since a score in the GIII Canadian Turf S. in March 2015–including a fourth-place run behind Ironicus (Distorted Humor) in last year's renewal of this event.

Mark Casse has a pair of multiple graded stakes winners for the Dixie in Za Approval (Ghostzapper) and Conquest Typhoon (Stormy Atlantic). The race also marks a first spin over the turf for El Kabeir (Scat Daddy), winner of three graded events on dirt during his first two years at the track. The John Terranova II trainee tuned up for Dixie with a five-furlong breeze over the Belmont turf in 1:01.54 (3/13) May 15.