Before the Preakness Stakes begins Saturday afternoon, several undercard stakes races will take place at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore. The best of the rest will be the 113th running of the $400,000 Dixie Stakes, featuring four-year-old Hey LeRoy as the favorite.
Preakness 2014 undercard stakes preview: Hey LeRoy favored in Dixie
Hey LeRoy is the oddsmakers’ best bet to win the Dixie Stakes.
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Hey LeRoy enters as a 5/2 morning-line favorite, ahead of Up With The Birds at 5/1, Chamois at 6/1 and both Roadhog and Utley at 8/1. Quick Wit is the longshot at 20/1. Ron Sanchez, Hey LeRoy’s owner, fully expects his horse to cross the finish line first, per preakness.com:
“We’re expecting him to win,” Sanchez said. “He’s been training well and we have the best rider in Javier Castellano. He loves the grass and his numbers are pretty good,” the owner said. “If everything goes as we plan, we think we have a shot in the Breeders’ Cup Turf.”
The first Dixie Stakes was held in 1870, when Preakness, namesake for Pimlico’s main event, took top billing. The local favorite is Maryland-bred Hamp, out of Saramore Farms. He’s at 12/1 odds, and trainer Ignacio Correas likes his chances:
“He’s not the favorite to win the race, but I think we have an advantage in that he’s run on the track before,” Correas said. “My horse is a very special horse. There are not many Maryland-breds running this weekend and we have Hamp and two others bred at Sagamore.”
Ten horses will compete in the Dixie. Post time is set for 5:27 p.m. ET. The first of 13 Saturday races, which include nine stakes races, posts at 10:47 a.m. A full list of odds can be found here.
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