Quip trying to join WinStar's list of Derby prospects

OLDSMAR, Fla. – WinStar Farm already is a partner in a handful of prospects for the 2018 Kentucky Derby, including Audible, Justify, Noble Indy, National Flag, and New York Central. Yet another WinStar colt could announce his presence on the Derby trail Saturday when Quip makes his 3-year-old debut as one of the longer shots in the Tampa Bay Derby, the annual showcase event at Tampa Bay Downs.

Quip, by Distorted Humor, is trained by 34-year-old Rodolphe Brisset, the former Bill Mott assistant who went out on his own last spring. The colt arrived here Feb. 26 from his main winter base at Fair Grounds to make final preparations for the Grade 2, $350,000 Tampa Bay Derby, including a half-mile blowout in 48 seconds Monday.

Brisset said he and WinStar president Elliott Walden probably would have preferred to have gotten started a little earlier on the Derby trail with Quip, but poor weather in New Orleans and a minor blip in the colt’s training schedule led them to Tampa, where Brisset has a small string of horses overseen by assistant Leigh Bentley.

“Nothing bad, but I jumped one work with him,” said Brisset, who also is the regular exercise rider for the Distorted Humor colt. “We kind of waited for him to show us he was getting there, taking us where we wanted to be. We got a very good bottom into him last year with the three races. It’s not like he just broke his maiden in the winter and you have to keep on going.”

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Quip is owned by WinStar with the China Horse Club, its partner in many horses, and SF Racing. The bay colt opened his career by winning a maiden sprint at Churchill Downs and a two-turn allowance at Keeneland before finishing an even seventh in the Kentucky Jockey Club at Churchill last November.

“He’s going to tell us Saturday if he belongs,” said Brisset. “He’s going to have to show us more than what he showed in the Jockey Club. But he has matured very well. I am very happy with him and I think he deserves a shot.”

Quip was one of 10 entries taken here Wednesday for the 1 1/16-mile Tampa Bay Derby, although two of them, Enticed and Free Drop Billy, were cross-entered and expected to run if possible Saturday in the Gotham at Aqueduct. Inclement weather in New York led to their equine charter flight out of Palm Beach being postponed from Wednesday to Thursday.

Likely favorites for the race are Flameaway and Vino Rosso, the respective first- and third-place finishers here on Feb. 10 in the Sam F. Davis Stakes, with World of Trouble the most logical pacesetter. Flameaway, with Jose Lezcano back to ride, led throughout in the Sam Davis, “but that’s only because there wasn’t much other speed in there,” said trainer Mark Casse.

“Pace really doesn’t matter to him,” Casse added. “He’s about the least complicated horse you’ll ever find.”

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Vino Rosso, with John Velazquez riding again, will be looking to add to trainer Todd Pletcher’s remarkable record in the Tampa Bay Derby. Pletcher has won it five times since 2004, including four of the last five and the last three in a row, with Carpe Diem (2015), Destin (2016), and Tapwrit.

The field for the 38th Tampa Bay Derby also includes Tiz Mischief, Untamed Domain, Arazi Like Move, and Grandpa Knows Best.

The Tampa Bay Derby offers 85 qualifying points toward the May 5 Kentucky Derby, including 50 to the winner. It is the anchor of a Festival Day-card that includes four other stakes, mostly notably the Grade 2, $200,000 Hillsborough, a 1 1/8-mile turf race with three Grade 1 winners in its lineup: La Coronel, Daddys Lil Darling, and Off Limits.

The other undercard stakes are the Grade 3, $150,000 Florida Oaks, the $100,000 Challenger, and the $75,000 Columbia.

The Saturday forecast calls for mostly sunny skies and a high of 75.