Dixie Stakes

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The Dixie Stakes, frequently referred to as the Dixie Handicap, is the eighth oldest graded stakes race in the United States and still run annually at Pimlico Race Course. First run as the "Dinner Party Stakes" when Pimlico Race Course opened in 1870, it was named for the 1868 dinner party in Saratoga, New York where Maryland Governor Oden Bowie and others met and wagered, resulting in the building of the Pimlico race course for thoroughbred race horses.^[1]

The inaugural event was won by Preakness for whom the Preakness Stakes would be named.

Currently a Grade II stakes race with a purse of $250,000, at one time the Dixie was a very important race that drew the top horses from across North America.

The race is open to horses, age three and up, willing to race one and one-eighth miles on the turf.

In 2007, the horse Mending Fences was euthanized on the track after falling and sustaining a compound fracture in his front right ankle which penetrated the skin. The horse Einstein, swerving to avoid the downed horse, threw his jockey Robby Albarado, who returned two races later to win the Preakness Stakes. Neither Einstein, Albarado, or Mending Fences' jockey Eddie Castro sustained any serious injuries.