Quip not ready for Risen Star, Gotham an option

Quip, a 3-year-old colt who showed plenty of ability last fall in Kentucky, is progressing toward his 2018 debut but won’t start in the Feb. 17 Risen Star Stakes, trainer Rodolphe Brisset said.

Quip, a Distorted Humor colt owned by WinStar Farm and the China Horse Club, won his debut last October in a six-furlong Churchill Downs maiden race, and came right back at Keeneland to capture a first-level allowance around two turns on dirt by more than six lengths. Quip was a 5-1 chance facing 13 foes in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes on Nov. 25 at Churchill, but after breaking from post 11 and stalking the pace, he finished seventh.

Brisset said Quip returned to training in mid-December, but his progress was set back by minor hoof bruising that cost him about a week.

“The horse is doing good, but the Risen Star is coming too quick,” Brisset said. “He’s not quite ready.”

Brisset said he would like to bring Quip back the second weekend in March and hopes to point the colt to the Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct.

◗ The highest-level fare on offer Sunday at Fair Grounds is race 8, a first-level allowance for Louisiana-breds carded at about 1 1/16 miles on turf and also open to $12,500 claimers. Fair Grounds goes dark Monday, races Tuesday, is dark Wednesday and Thursday, and resumes racing on Friday.