Quip, Positive Spirit shipping in for Feb. 16 stakes

The young trainer Rodolphe Brisset runs a satellite string at Fair Grounds while keeping the bulk of his stock at Payson Park in South Florida this winter, and Brisset has noteworthy invaders for the multi-stakes card Feb. 16 in New Orleans.

Brisset on Monday confirmed he’s sending Quip for the Mineshaft Handicap and Positive Spirit for the Rachel Alexandra Stakes. New York-based Manny Franco has a return call on Positive Spirit, while Florent Geroux will have the mount on Quip. Positive Spirit is set to make her first start as a 3-year-old while racing for the first time since capturing the Grade 2 Demoiselle Stakes on Dec. 1 at Aqueduct by 10 1/2 lengths. Positive Spirit, a Pioneerof the Nile filly owned by Mike Ryan, scored a third-start one-mile maiden win at Churchill before acing her stakes debut in the 1 1/8-mile Demoiselle, where she sat just off a modest pace, took over in upper stretch, and crushed her rivals. Positive Spirit returned to the work tab Dec. 24 after giving her connections strong hints she didn’t need a longer winter break.

“We gave her two weeks off, but I don’t think she was enjoying the time off at all,” Brisset said. “At Payson we turned her out in the paddock, and I think she was missing the track, so we decided to get her back on there. She did light training, little by little she blossomed, and she got back on the work tab. She’s had four workouts and has one more before the race. We’re not 100 percent by any means, but we just want to build to try and win a Grade 1.”

Quip returns from a much longer layoff. His last start came May 19 in the Preakness Stakes, and he floundered on a sloppy track and essentially was eased. Quip worked once in June at Keeneland, but Brisset was dissatisfied with his condition and Quip was put on the shelf to recover from an early-season campaign that saw him win the Tampa Bay Derby in his 3-year-old debut and finish second to Magnum Moon in the Arkansas Derby.

“It’s a totally different approach right now,” said Brisset, who gave Quip a six-furlong work in 1:15 Monday morning. “We were trying to make the Derby last year. We had bad weather at Fair Grounds and had to work on some sloppy tracks. Now we can plan and don’t have to rush to get somewhere. I think the horse really enjoys what we’re doing right now. He’s carrying good weight and looks the part. He won’t be cranked, but I think we have as good a horse as last year.”

Quip will be landing in a soft spot, with a short field lacking deep quality likely to be entered Saturday in the Grade 3, $150,000 Mineshaft. Positive Spirit will face the Silverbulletday Stakes winner Needs Supervision as well as Tempted Stakes winner Oxy Lady; Street Band, recent winner of a Fair Grounds route allowance; and Bell’s The One, who makes her two-turn debut after winning three sprints to start her career.