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Upstart scheduled to work Monday for possible Holy Bull bid
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| Upstart has "thrived" since his post-BC holiday
(NYRA/Adam Coglianese Photography/Adam Mooshian) |
Multiple Grade 1-placed Upstart continues to progress toward his sophomore
debut, which may come in the Grade 2, $400,000 Holy Bull on January 24 at
Gulfstream Park.Trainer Rick Violette said the three-year-old son of Flatter will breeze five
furlongs Monday morning at Palm Meadows, Gulfstream's satellite training
facility in Palm Beach County. It will be the fourth and longest timed work
since the New York-bred ridgling arrived in South Florida.
"He's doing great," Violette said. "We'll have tomorrow's breeze and then
another one. I'm kind of a work and a half behind. We'll see how easily he does
those and how much he blows and how he comes out of his next two breezes. We'd
love to make the Holy Bull without getting ahead of ourselves. We'll see how he
does things and go from there."
Owned by Ralph Evans, Upstart joined Violette's
southern string in mid-November and had his first three-furlong breeze in :37
1/5 on December 23. He followed with a pair of half-mile works, going :50 on
December 31 and :49 on January 6.
Violette, who is shuttling back and forth between Florida and New York this
winter, was on hand for the work.
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"He went a terrific half in company last week and looked good," Violette said.
"He'll do the five-eighths tomorrow and we'll kind of see where that leads us."
Upstart won each of his first two starts nine days apart at Saratoga Race Course
last summer against fellow state-breds, including the Funny Cide Stakes on August
24. From there he was second to Daredevil in the Champagne at Belmont Park,
12 3/4 lengths ahead of the rest of the field that included subsequent multiple
graded-stakes winner El Kabeir.
In his final start at two, Upstart was third, just a nose behind runner-up Carpe
Diem, in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile on November 1 at Santa Anita.
"We gave him four weeks off, and I think he's thrived," Violette said. "We put
him out in the paddocks there and he was bucking and squealing. He put on some
weight and gotten a little bit more mature looking, a little squarer. He didn't
necessarily get any taller, but he filled out a little bit.
"Certainly that
little brief time off did him well. We're kind of back to full speed ahead."
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