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DIXIE HANDICAP OPENING FEATURE AT . PIMLICO . « *. Ol — Great Field Named for 5,000 Added Inaugural Attraction » Sarazen, Winner in 192S and 1926, Mars, Single Foot, Display, Joy Smoke and Others Among Those Named ♦ ■ BALTIMORE, Md., April 30. — The climax to the glorious spring racing season in Maryland will come with the Maryland Jockey Club meeting which will be inaugurated Monday, May 2, at historic old Pimlico. A grand total of 26,000 will be distributed among the horsemen in stakes and purses, with the 0,000 added Preakness as the outstanding attraction of the meeting. There is stake race provided for every day of the meeting, the 5,000 added Dixie Handicap being the opening day feature. The Maryland Jockey Club has long been noted for its progressive policy and high class method of conducting the sport at its popular Hilltop course, so conveniently located within the city limits of this great Maryland metropolis. A striking instance of this progressiveness was the re-establishment in 1924 of the Dixie Handicap. This is one of the most famous of American stake races and was instituted in 1870, first being known as the Dinner Party Stakes. The first winner of the Dixie Handicap was the celebrated horse Preakness in whose memory the most valuable stake of Maryland racing was named. In revising the Dixie Handicap, the Maryland Jockey Club made the monetary value of it attractive enough to assure the naming of the best horses of each year. This satisfactory result has been achieved thus far and 1927 is no exception in this respect. Probably the best field that has as yet contested the Dixie Handicap since its revival in 1924 is named to start Monday. It includes the great but temperamental Sarazen, which won the Dixie Handicap in consecutive years, 1925 and 1926. Sarazen is the top weight with 127 pounds and will have such gallant opponents as Mars, 124 ; Display, 120. Single Foot, 120, Joy Smoke, 119, Dangerous, 116. not to say anything of such formidable lightweighted rivals as J. Fred A., 100, Almadel, 104, Helens Bebe, 109 and others. It is an excellent field and promises a contest worthy of the best traditions of the race. The supplementary features of the inaugural program are up to the high standard of Pimlicos offering and altogether the program for Mondays racing should furnish great sport for the tremendous crowd that is certain to be present. Pimlico never looked better than at the present time, the grounds and plant being ii spic and span condition and everything is in thorough readiness for a wonderful meeting.
