Chip Honcho skips Kentucky Derby, targets Preakness at Laurel Park

Steve Asmussen did not force Chip Honcho into the Kentucky Derby, and that may be the sharpest decision of Derby week. The Hall of Famer, still looking for his first Derby win after 28 tries, shifted the Gun Runner Stakes winner and Louisiana Derby fifth to the Preakness Stakes instead, keeping a live colt out of a crowded 20-horse gate and aiming him at Laurel Park on May 16.

The move was driven by the form on the page and the way Chip Honcho finished his prep. He had been second in the Risen Star Stakes, won the Gun Runner, then flattened to fifth in the Louisiana Derby. After Chip Honcho worked five furlongs in 1:00.4 at Churchill Downs, Asmussen decided not to chase the Derby for the sake of chasing it. Asmussen said, “We’re going to wait for the Preakness with him.” That is the right read if the goal is a cleaner shot at a classic, not a forced start in Louisville.

Chip Honcho’s withdrawal changed the Derby field immediately. He was sitting on 49 points on the official leaderboard, and with the Derby capped at 20 starters and the top 17 point-earners earning spots, his spot became the opening Litmus Test needed. That is the real short-term beneficiary here: Bob Baffert gets another horse into the race, and bettors get a new moving part in a field where every draw matters.

Litmus Test brings more than an empty saddle. The colt was bought for $875,000 at Fasig-Tipton’s Saratoga Sale, is by Nyquist out of the Malibu Moon mare Study Hard, and had a published record of 5 starts, 2 wins, 0 seconds and 1 third before the Derby. He gave Baffert his 15th win in the Los Alamitos Futurity and later was reported to have finished seventh in the Arkansas Derby. On paper, that profile changes the Derby’s depth more than its pace, but it still matters. A Baffert colt with graded-stakes upside is not a placeholder.

The bigger ripple may be in the Preakness picture. Preakness 151 will be run at Laurel Park, not Pimlico, because Pimlico Race Course is under redevelopment and closed for construction, with the race set to return there in 2027. That makes Chip Honcho’s reroute more than a Derby pass. It sends a colt with obvious ability toward a Triple Crown race that should fit him better than the Derby squeeze at Churchill Downs. It also gives Asmussen, a two-time Preakness winner with Curlin in 2007 and Rachel Alexandra in 2009, a chance to attack the middle jewel on his own terms instead of burning a qualifying horse in the wrong spot.