Brisset in no rush with Positive Spirit

Trainer Rodolphe Brisset will be a man on the move this week, but his Demoiselle winner, Positive Spirit, will be taking it easy in New York for a few days before shipping to Payson Park in Florida to prepare for her 3-year-old campaign.

Brisset stopped by Belmont Park to check on Positive Spirit before he flew to Del Mar to saddle Mission Impassible in the Grade 1 Matriarch. Brisset will then be at Fair Grounds on Tuesday and Lexington on Wednesday before heading to Payson himself.

Brisset said Positive Spirit looked good Sunday morning, following her 10 1/2-length romp in the Demoiselle for which she earned an 86 Beyer Speed Figure.

Brisset said he had no immediate plans for Positive Spirit but said if he and owner Mike Ryan decide to point to the Kentucky Oaks, she would likely run twice beforehand with her last prep being the Grade 1 Ashland at Keeneland on April 6.

Brisset was less positive on where her first start of 2019 would be, though a race six weeks out from the Ashland would seem ideal timing, he said.

“She may be more an Alabama filly,” Brisset said, referring to the Grade 1, 1 1/4-mile race at Saratoga typically run in mid- to late August. “More ground could really be good for her, too. I don’t think we have any pressure to make the Oaks.”