Quip to go back around two turns in Oaklawn Handicap
{{monthName}} {{day}}, {{year}} {{hour12}}:{{minuteTwoDigit}}{{dayPeriod}}
Photo:
Eclipse Sportswire
Grade 2 winner Quip will
return to Oaklawn Park for the $750,000 Oaklawn Handicap (G2) for older horses at 1
1/8 miles April 13, trainer Rodolphe Brisset said.
Quip finished second in
the $1 million Arkansas Derby (G1) last year at Oaklawn. He raced just once
more in 2018, finishing eighth in the Preakness last May at Pimlico. Quip ran
third in his comeback race, the $100,000 Hal’s Hope Stakes (G3) at a mile Feb.
23 at Gulfstream Park. Quip was beaten 7 ¼ lengths after dueling through a :45
half-mile.
“We got a pretty good race off the layoff,” Brisset said. “We felt that he needed it. I think he kind of answered my question about going back to two turns or staying to one turn. It looks like the two turns is going to be more the thing to do. Just the way the race set up in Gulfstream, the :45 may have been too much for him.”
Brisset said Quip has trained “very well” since the Hal’s Hope, logging four published workouts in March at Payson Park Training Center in south Florida.
“I’m hoping that race is really going to fit him perfect,” Brisset said of the Oaklawn Handicap.
Brisset said Quip will be flown to Arkansas April 10 and Jose Ortiz will ride the Distorted Humor colt in the Oaklawn Handicap. Quip, who races for WinStar Farm LLC, China Horse Club and SF Racing LLC, won the $400,000 Tampa Bay Derby (G2) before finishing second to Magnum Moon in the Arkansas Derby.
The Oaklawn Handicap closed last Thursday with 21 nominations. Post positions will be drawn April 10.
City of Light and Accelerate finished 1-2, respectively, in last year’s Oaklawn Handicap. Accelerate was named the country’s champion older male of 2018, while City of Light won the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1) Nov. 3 at Churchill Downs and concluded his racing career with a victory in the $9 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) Jan. 26 at Gulfstream Park.
Read More
The fall meets wind down but the graded stakes keep coming, with Churchill Downs hosting Saturday's Grade 3...
Grand Slam Smile posted Sunday's highest Horse Racing Nation speed figure with a 142 at Del Mar in...
Trainer Mark Glatt is having a pretty good year. It started last fall when he won his first...
Sweet Azteca and Ag Bullet will return to racing in 2026 as 6-year-olds, trainer Richard Baltas told Daily...
With the Breeders’ Cup now in the rearview mirror, it’s time to take an initial look at the...