The Stuart Janney homebred IRONICUS made his stakes debut an impressive one when he drew away from the field to win the Grade 2 Longines Dixie S. on the Preakness S. undercard. IRONICUS came from ninth in the field of 13 to overhaul the leader near the sixteenth pole and sprinted away to win by 2 3/4 lengths. His final time for this 1 1/16-mile turf event was 1:40.53, only a 1/5 second off the course record. The 4-year-old colt is trained by Shug McGaughey and was foaled and raised at Claiborne Farm. Meghan’s Joy, dam of IRONICUS, has also produced for Janney the graded stakes winners Hunting, Quiet Harbor and Norumbega (winner of last year’s Brooklyn Inv. S.-G2), as well as stakes winner Seal Cove and Graded stakes-placed Minister’s Joy.
