Positive Spirit, Quip to start seasons in Fair Grounds stakes

When your older half-brother is a Kentucky Derby winner, it’s natural to carry high expectations. So far, Positive Spirit is living up to them.

The filly ended her 2-year-old campaign on a promising note, and the first chapter of her sophomore season is about to be written in the Grade 2, $200,000 Rachel Alexandra Stakes, to be run on on Feb. 16 along with the Risen Star (G2) at Fair Grounds.

Owned by Michael Ryan, the half-sister to 2017 Derby winner Always Dreaming has shown improvement in each of her four starts, the most recent of which was a stunning 10 1/2-length triumph in the Dec. 1 Demoiselle Stakes (G2) at Aqueduct, where she acquired 10 points on Churchill Downs’ Road To The Kentucky Oaks.

Trainer Rodolphe Brisset began thinking big after Positive Spirit's runaway victory in the Demoiselle, which marked the daughter of Pioneerof the Nile’s stakes debut.

“We said after the Demoiselle that we felt like the ultimate goal would be to win a Grade 1,” Brisset said. “If we feel like she isn’t ready to go there yet we could wait for the summer races for her at Saratoga. We are looking at the Rachel as the beginning. and as of now it’s the spot we’re going to come back in. 

Bred in Kentucky by Santa Rosa Partners, Positive Spirit made her career debut at Saratoga last summer, when she finished third. She then broke her maiden at Churchill Downs on Nov. 8 going a one-turn mile over a fast main track.

“We got some luck when Mr. Ryan decided not sell her and sent her to us,” Brisset said. “We thought she was nice at Saratoga. From there she proved to be a nice one. We saw what she did last year.”

Brisset said jockey Manny Franco would ship to Fair Grounds to pilot Positive Spirit. Franco guided her to victory in the Demoiselle last time out.

Positive Spirit is out of the Grade 3-winning In Excess broodmare Above Perfection. In addition to producing Always Dreaming, she also is the dam of Grade 1 winner Hot Dixie Chick.

The Rachel Alexandra Stakes is the second of three local preps on the Road To The Kentucky Oaks and awards the Top 4 finishers based off of a 50-20-10-5 scale.

Also representing the Brisset barn next Saturday in the Grade 3, $150,000 Mineshaft Handicap is Quip, who will make his first start since an eighth-place finish in the 2018 Preakness Stakes behind eventual Triple Crown winner Justify.

The 4-year-old son of Distorted Humor gave Brisset his first graded stakes victory when he took last year’s edition of the Tampa Bay Derby (G2) at 19-1.

“Quip is doing very well,” Brisset said. “We have some nice workouts into him. It could be definitely be the right spot to start his 4-year-old campaign.”

Although Quip has yet to contest over the Fair Grounds main track, he had trained over the New Orleans oval all winter last year.

“It seems that he likes the track,” Brisset said. “He has never raced over it but he did train there all winter last year and doesn’t mind the track at all. I think everything lines up very well. The main thing is to let the horse tell us what he wants to do. We’ll bring him competitive.” 

Owned by WinStar Farm, China Horse Club and SF Racing, Quip is out of the Indiana Charlie broodmare Princess Ash who is a half-sister to Grade 1-placed Normandy Invasion.