Quip to get his shot at Preakness

Quip has been confirmed to run in the May 19 Preakness, officials at Pimlico announced Tuesday afternoon.

Elliott Walden, president of WinStar Farm, one of Quip’s owners, had reserved judgment on whether to run Quip in the Preakness since Justify won the Kentucky Derby on Saturday at Churchill Downs. WinStar also is a co-owner of Justify.

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Walden told Pimlico that Quip “deserves the opportunity."

"We purposely skipped the Derby pointing for the Preakness," he said. "We looked at it at that time and asked the question, if we did win the Derby, would we still run Quip in the Preakness? We all kind of answered, ‘Yes.’ But I wanted to take a fresh look at it after the race and make sure.”

Quip, winner of the March 10 Tampa Bay Derby and second in the April 14 Arkansas Derby, had enough qualifying points to the run in the Derby, but Walden and trainer Rodolphe Brisset agreed the Distorted Humor colt would be better served by waiting the additional two weeks for the Preakness.

Florent Geroux will have the mount on Quip, whose latest breeze, a half-mile in 48 seconds, came Thursday over a fast track at Brisset’s base at Keeneland.

Meanwhile, Pimlico quoted trainer Chad Brown as saying he still is undecided on whether he will run the Derby runner-up Good Magic in the Preakness.

A short field is expected in the Preakness. Justify is expected to return to light training Thursday at Churchill and will be flown Tuesday or Wednesday to Baltimore.