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Ten Dispute Dixie Handicap Today St. Vincent Probable Choice In Grass Course Route Test * Jabneh, Aeschylus, BlueChoir* Are Expected to Offer Most Contention on Pimlico Card By PALMER HEAGERTY PIMLICO. Baltimore, Md., May 10.— The time-honored Dixie Handicap, carrying 5,000 in added money, will have its 56th running here Saturday afternoon and afternoon and a classy field has been entered to compete. Transferred to the turf course in 1955, this will mark the third edition on the grass and at the mile and three-furlong distance. Should the 10 overnight entrants remain in the starting line-up. and there is every reason to believe that they will, the event will gross 8,600, with the successful owner netting 9,550 of the 9,850 winners share. With the running of the Dixie, Mary-landers will be viewing the action of Alberta Ranches, Ltd.s St. Vincent for the first time since he established the 11 -furlong worlds record of 2:1535 in winning the first Dixie contested over the grass, a feat which aided him in being voted the outstanding grass performer of the 1955 sea-!son. | He will be the topweight Saturday under 125 pounds and will be ridden by Johnny Longden. whose son. Vance, conditions the English-bred. Won Washingtons Birthday Handicap St. Vincents top effort this season in a comeback campaign was at Santa Anita during the winer, when he won the Washingtons Birthday Handicap, beating, among others. Master Boing. winner of last years Washington D. C. International while representing France. Giving assurance of his present fitness, as well as his continued fondness for the local grass course, the six-year-old yesterday morning worked a mile in 1:3945 over the turf. Pitted five pounds below St. Vincent in the weights, each slated to carry 120 pounds, are Mrs. Eugenia E. Bankheads Jabneh and C. Mahlon Klines Lofty Peak. Next in line comes Douglas R. Smalls Aeschylus, with 118 pounds. Rounding out the field are: Mrs. Harry L. Nathensons Blue Choir. 116; Cockfield Stables Akbar Khan. 113; Greentree Stables Maharajah, 112; j Courtney Burtons Roman Battle, 110, and the John M. Schiff-Lazy F. Ranch cou-i pling Muguet II. and Lagides. 109 and 105 pounds, respectively. : There exists a distinct possibility that ; St. Vincents worlds record wjll be lowered, : considering the lack of rain in this area of ; late, with the resultant hard course. Re- gardless of the time, a truly top renewal ; of the race seems assured. Chief contention for St. Vincent likely ■ will come from Jabneh, winner of the 5,- 000 added Hialeah Turf Handicap during ■ the past winter. He was a disappointment in the recent Laurel Spring Turf Handicap, but the mile and a sixteenth of that event 1 was not to his liking and improvement can ; be expected in the Dixie, j Winner of the aforementioned Laurel j Spring Cap was Aeschylus, the effort cli- ■ maxing a comeback campaign following a ! bone operation which he underwent last i September. Previously, Aeschylus had dm-, onstrated" sufficent class over the grass to "r have represented this country in the 1955 International. As in the Laurel event, this j Maryland-bred will be ridden by Keith [ Stuart. Behind Aeschylus in the Laurel Spring. - besides Jabneh. were Akbar Khan, Lofty ? Peak and Blue Choir, who earned the re- * maining money positions as named. In a previous start. Lofty Peak had established a course record of 1:4045 for the distance of about a mile and one -sixteenth. Blue Choir has failed to display the class he once possessed but his handler feels that he is primed for a top performance at this time. Maharajah ha always favored the grass and has had a good conditioner over the local course, finishing third earlier in the week while apparently a bit roguish under youn apprentice Johnny Ruane. The veteran Ted Atkinson will be in the irons Saturday, just as he was when the grey six-year-old was beaten narrowly in Hialeah s Bougainvillea Handicap during the winter. Muguet II. and Lagides, both of whom are conditioned by Oleg T. Dubassoff, are French-breds who must show improvement to rate serious consideration here, while Roman Battle has failed in his most important engagements after having frequently shown promise.
