Preakness profiles: Quip

Photo by Dottie Miller.

by Gary Quill and Frank Vespe

In our Preakness profiles, we look into each of Saturday’s Preakness contenders.

WHO IS QUIP?

Quip, a colt by Distorted Humor, is the first Triple Crown starter for 34-year-old trainer Rodolphe Brisset; he’s also the second horse in the field, after Derby winner and morning line favorite Justify, owned by a partnership led by WinStar Farm LLC. Quip won the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby and was second in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby, but his connections believed he needed more time after the latter and so passed on the Kentucky Derby.

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING ABOUT QUIP

“Passing the Derby was not easy – it was easy and not easy,” Brisset said. “It was not easy for me because I would have liked to run in the Derby. But now looking at the horse and what the horse was telling us, he did not want to run in the Derby.”

Quip breezed May 13 at Keeneland, and on the following Tuesday, his first day back to the track, Brisset commented, “He’s showing good energy. He was very sound this morning. He went to the gate and he was at peace, so we’re in good shape.”

WHY HE COULD WIN

Might be peaking as the Preakness will be his third start of the year, first winning the Tampa Bay Derby (G2) followed by a runner-up finish in the Arkansas Derby (G2). He was eligible to run in the KY Derby but his trainer felt he needed more time between races, so he was pointed to run in the Preakness saying, “We have a horse that will come back fresh. He worked very good last week, and I wouldn’t trade my place.”

WHY HE COULD LOSE

The horse who beat him in the Arkansas Derby finished nineteenth in the KY Derby. Quip’s owners, WinStar Farm and China Horse Club International, also own KY Derby winner Justify. How you interpret that fact is up to you, but what is most likely is that Quip’s limited ability will not allow him to beat the KY Derby winner. Elliott Walden, president of co-owner WinStar Farm stated, “If Justify is supposed to win the Triple Crown, he’ll beat Quip.”