LEXINGTON, Ky. — A bay colt named Quip, who stands 16 hands and weighs 1,030 pounds, woke up in his 12-foot-by-12-foot stall in Barn 72 at the back end of Keeneland racetrack here at 3:30 a.m. on a Friday in mid-April. He stood from his bed of pine shavings and began to dig into his daily breakfast, a three-quart blend of mostly mixed oats, sweet oats and barley.
Six days earlier, the horse had finished second in the Arkansas Derby behind Magnum Moon. Quip had been perfectly positioned on Moon’s shoulder coming off the final turn, but he couldn’t match Moon’s finish.