Chip Honcho Puts in Final Move Ahead of Preakness

Chip Honcho completed his major training for the 151st Preakness Stakes (G1) May 16 with a half-mile work in :50.20 at Churchill Downs May 10. Exercise rider Luiyi Ortiz was aboard for the work, which was one of Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen's typical easy half-mile moves the week of a race. Chip Honcho's big work came May 2 on Kentucky Derby (G1) morning, when he worked five-eighths of a mile in 1:00. The son of the Curlin stallion Connect is scheduled to van to Laurel Park Monday morning. "I think we're in a very good place with him right now," said Asmussen, whose record win total of 11,221-and-counting includes Preakness wins with Horses of the Year Curlin in 2007 and the filly Rachel Alexandra two years later. "We want to get him up there in the same shape he's leaving here in and hope for a good draw for him. "I'm anxious because I think we have a very good opportunity going in," he added. "For him, I really want to avoid an outside draw." Chip Honcho had post 2 when he won a Churchill Downs maiden race and the rail when he took the Gun Runner Stakes last December at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots in his first start around two turns. In the Jan. 17 Lecomte Stakes (G3), Chip Honcho had the outermost post 10, broke a step slowly, and was five-wide on the first turn. He wound up fourth behind future Kentucky Derby hero Golden Tempo. His best and fastest race came when Chip Honcho was second in the Feb.14 Risen Star Stakes (G2) at Fair Grounds, when he broke well from post 5, set the pace, and only gave way late to come in second by a half-length to the well-regarded and subsequently sidelined Paladin while easily finishing in front of Golden Tempo. Chip Honcho's hoped-for progression hit the brakes with a well-beaten fifth in the Louisiana Derby (G2) March 21, with Asmussen and the owners deciding to skip the Kentucky Derby in favor of the Preakness. Kentucky Derby-winning jockey Jose Ortiz, who rode Chip Honcho in his maiden victory, has the Preakness mount. Asmussen's more than 56,000 career starts do not include many at Laurel, he said, an exception being the fine Maryland-bred sprinter Jaxon Traveler, a millionaire who last ran at Laurel in 2022. "Watching how the races have been running and the times of them, but not being familiar with the horses that are actually doing it, it's a new variable," he said. "But I think we are taking a nice, solid group of horses that fit the stakes they have very well." Laurel Park's main track is 14 feet shy of being 1 1/8 miles. The main finish line features a stretch that from the last turn is 1,419 feet—the longest in America. However, to accommodate the Preakness's 1 3/16-mile distance, Saturday's classic will end at the first wire, shortening the stretch to 1,089 feet. "From watching his races, good," Asmussen said with a laugh. "Fair Grounds has two wires. If we'd used (the first) in the Risen Star, we might have won. Or they might have started riding earlier."