Chip Honcho (Connect), winner of the Gun Runner Stakes and a close second in the GII Fasig-Tipton Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds will bypass the GI Kentucky Derby in favor of the May 16 running of the GI Preakness Stakes, Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen said Saturday morning at Churchill Downs.With the defection of Chip Honcho, GSW Litmus Test (Nyquist) will now drawn in for the big race.The colt's Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert was asked early on Saturday morning what “Plan B” was if Litmus Test should not make the race.“No Plan B,” the conditioner stated emphatically, and presciently.As it turned out there was no need for a Plan B. Litmus Test is a go and he'll have Martin Garcia on his back for the Derby.Asmussen, a two-time Preakness winner, said the Middle Jewel of the Triple Crown was just a better fit after Chip Honcho finished fifth in the GII Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby in his last start at the Preakness distance of 1 3/16 miles.“We worked Chip today and spoke with Lee Ackerley, the majority owner, and ultimately I just don't have a good excuse for a bad race in the Louisiana Derby,” Asmussen said. “I very much don't want to put two of those [together], no guarantees that I won't. [But] I think avoiding running in the Derby off of that and pointing him for the Preakness gives us a better chance to get back on track.“When they talk about back on track, Chip Honcho is a horse that ran a 7 [Ragozin speed figure] at a mile and an eighth in February,” he added, referencing the Risen Star in which Chip Honcho led most of the race before finishing second by a half-length to Paladin. “Not a lot of them are capable of doing that. Somebody who believes in numbers, if it's in black and white, it's true. And we need to get back to that. We're not needing to run that much faster, that much farther, to be a serious contender in the most important 3-year-old races.”Chip Honcho worked five-eighths of a mile in 1:00.80 in company, getting the last quarter-mile in a sparkling :23 2/5.Litmus Test at Churchill on Thursday | Coady Media“Our issues with Chip obviously not being as consistent as we want is how he handles [things]. Blinkers on, blinkers off. How aggressive he is, how he breaks,” Asmussen said. “We've got 150,000 [people on Derby Day] and [4,800] at Laurel. I'd put that under the common sense category.”Asked if the Preakness distance versus the Derby's 1 1/4 miles was a factor, Asmussen said, “I think the biggest factor right now is his lack of consistency and how he is handled in races and the common sense of 150,000 setting you off or [4,800] not. Look it up: There are not a whole lot of 3-year-olds who have run '7s' at this stage, which is an indication of how fast you are from Point A to Point B. So, we are risking or dealing with a lot.”Asmussen won the 2007 Preakness with two-time Horse of the Year and 2014 Hall of Famer Curlin (by Smart Strike), who got up in the final stride after battling Derby winner Street Sense (by Street Cry {Ire}) the last eighth of a mile.Two years later, wine magnate Jess Jackson bought Rachel Alexandra after she won the GI Kentucky Oaks by a record 20 1/4 lengths, sending her to Asmussen. Rachel Alexandra (Medaglia d'Oro) defeated longshot Derby winner Mine That Bird (Birdstone) by a length to become the first filly to win the Preakness in 85 years en route to being crowned 2009 Horse of the Year. She was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2016.“My first Classic win was in the Preakness, Curlin beating Street Sense that day,” Asmussen said. “When you've had two Preakness wins, Curlin and Rachel Alexandra, those horses are what dreams are made of.”Chip Honcho's sire, Connect, is a son of Curlin. The $210,000 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky July yearling purchase is 2-2-0 in six starts, earning $280,475 for Ackerley, James Sherwood, Jode Shupe and John Cilia.Others horses under Preakness consideration include Crude Velocity (Beau Liam) and Cherokee Nation (Not This Time), both trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, Iron Honor (Nyquist) and Ottinho (Quality Road) (Chad Brown), Napoleon Solo (Liam's Map) (Chad Summers), Talk to Me Jimmy (Modernist) (Rudy Rodriguez), Crupper (Candy Ride {Arg}) (Donnie Von Hemel), Taj Mahal (Nyquist) (Brittany Russell), Talkin (Good Magic) (Danny Gargan) and The Hell We Did (Authentic) (Todd Fincher).The post Chip Honcho Skips Kentucky Derby To Point To Preakness; Litmus Test Draws In appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.