BALTIMORE, 05-17-14 – Augustin Stable’s Utley steered out from behind traffic and rallied to win the historic $400,000 Longines Dixie Stakes (G2) Saturday at Pimlico.

Edgar Prado rode the winner, a son of Smart Strike trained by Jonathan Sheppard. The 6-year-old turf veteran closed with a rush on the outside to score by a length over Hey Leroy. Chamois finished third, a nose farther back. Utley’s winning time for 1 1/16 miles over the ‘good’ turf was 1:43.88.

Utley, who had been winless since April 2013, paid $17.

LONGINES DIXIE STAKES QUOTES

Winning Assistant Trainer Keri Brion (Utley): “I was on the phone with (trainer) Jonathan (Sheppard) and I said, ‘Can you believe that?’ He was watching the race on tape delay and he said, ‘What happened?’ I said, ‘We won it, we won it.’  He’s just been kind of a bad luck kind of horse. He’s hard-trying and this race was kind of a step up. He ran a very nice race two weeks ago at Churchill Downs, and Jonathan thought, ‘Why not take a shot?’ He really took to the soft turf.”

Winning Jockey Edgar Prado (Utley):  “Jonathan was very confident to bring this horse to this race. The horse has been training well and he thought he would have a good chance and he proved that he was right. I got a beautiful trip and I was able to go inside and save ground in both turns, angle out in the stretch and he finished real well. Jonathan did a super job to get this horse ready.”

Jockey Javier Castellano (Hey Leroy): “We had a good trip. We wanted to be close and on the inside to save ground. My horse responded very well. He just could not hold off the winner.”

Assistant trainer Christophe Lorieul (Chamois): “It was a bit ambitious coming here today because he hasn’t run in a while. We came here today because the ground was to his liking. He’s a bit one-paced and I thought he would run well today because we had him ready. We were a bit more forward than I thought we would be, but he ran well all the way to the end. When the horses came to him, he came back again and just missed second.”

Jockey Joe Bravo (Chamois): “He was really, really nice, pulling me along consistently. He wanted to open it up a little bit, but I kind of wanted to wait a little bit and play it smart – probably a little bit too smart for his own good today.”

About Pimlico Race Course

Historic Pimlico Race Course, home of the Preakness® Stakes, the middle jewel in horse racing's famed Triple Crown, first opened its doors on October 25, 1870, and is the second oldest racetrack in the United States. Pimlico has played host to racing icons and Baltimoreans have seen the likes of legendary horses such as Man o’ War, Seabiscuit, Secretariat, Affirmed and Cigar thunder down the stretch in thrilling and memorable competition. For more information on Pimlico, visit www.pimlico.com.

Pimlico Race Course is a Stronach Group company, North America’s leading Thoroughbred racetrack owner/operator. The Stronach Group racetracks include Santa Anita Park, Gulfstream Park & Casino, Golden Gate Fields, Portland Meadows, Laurel Park and Pimlico Race Course, home of the world-famous Preakness. The company owns and operates the Palm Meadows Training Center in Florida and is one of North America's top race horse breeders through its award-winning Adena Springs operation. The Stronach Group is one of the world's largest suppliers of pari-mutuel wagering systems, technologies and services. Its companies include AmTote, a global leader in wagering technology; Xpressbet, an Internet and telephone account wagering service; and Monarch Content Management, which acts as a simulcast purchase and sales agent of horseracing content for numerous North American racetracks and wagering outlets. The Stronach Group is also a major producer of televised horse racing programming through its HRTV cable and satellite network and is North America's premier supplier of virtual online horse racing games, as well as a leading producer of social media content for the horseracing industry.