BALTIMORE – Handicappers clamoring for big fields might clam up after digging into the Dixie Stakes. Fourteen are in the main body of the turf lead-in to the Preakness on Saturday at Pimlico; only a handful can be comfortably dismissed. The Grade 3, $300,000 Dixie used to be a handicap contested over nine furlongs, but now it’s a stakes at 1 1/16 miles. The grass course here was quite firm midweek, and even if rain comes before Saturday, the ground should be good, at worst. :: DRF Live: Watch live handicapping analysis of Saturday’s biggest races. The race figures to unfold at a moderate tempo: Skyring, the 2013 Dixie winner, is the most naturally inclined front-runner, but his form has been so poor recently that in the Fair Grounds Handicap on Feb. 20, a race in which he should have controlled the pace, Skyring couldn’t even make the front. With such a big field and a short run into the first turn, post position looms a major factor, and both 7-2 morning-line favorite War Correspondent (post 13) and 9-2 second choice Up with the Birds (post 11) are drawn wide. Since 2000, post positions 11-14 in Pimlico turf races at this distance have combined to win just 14 of 246 starts, a 6 percent strike rate. Among the shorter prices, a few could be opposed. Up With the Birds finished sixth as the favorite in this race last year and runs his best at distances longer than the Dixie trip. Grand Tito already has raced five times this year, a busy campaign, and his trainer, Gustavo Delgado, never has started a horse at Pimlico. Ironicus and Tricky Hat are trained by Shug McGaughey, whose record, according to DRF Formulator, is just 7-0-2-0 in Pimlico turf routes. Legendary had strong form late last year and might well have needed his comeback run last month at Keeneland in the Maker’s 46 Mile, but the internal race fractions showing on DRF Formulator suggest a steady-paced galloping-type horse better suited to races at nine furlongs and farther. :: Bet Dixie Stakes with DRF Bets. Get up to a $500 cash bonus! Find out more today. Dixie Stakes, race 12 KEY CONTENDERS War Correspondent (Last 3 Beyers: 96-97-95) ◗ Wide draw is problematic, but he looks the most likely starter to at least earn a top-three placing. He has two wins, a second, and a third since being imported from France and turned over to trainer Christophe Clement, and the third-place finish, behind Mshawish and Slumber, might have been his best race. Long On Value (Last 3 Beyers: 93-100-86) ◗ Mere $3,000 auction buy has earned more than a half-million dollars and appears still to be improving early in his 4-year-old season. ◗Trainer Bill Mott is a three-time Dixie winner, with Paradise Creek (1994), Yagli (1998), and Hap (2001). Set the pace and held third last out in the Maker’s Mark, but had never been on the lead before, and almost certainly is better off with a target at which to run. Aripeka (Last 3 Beyers: 93-95-96) ◗ One-time maiden claimer is in career-best form this year, but might be best at a one-mile distance. FORMULATOR FACT: Trainer Eddie Kenneally is just 43-2-7-4 with a $1.12 return on investment in graded turf route stakes.