Making the Grade: Upstart

Upstart made a splash in his first start as a 3-year-old, winning the Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream Park. (Photos by Eclipse Sportswire)
Making the Grade, which will run through the 2015 Belmont Stakes, focuses on the winners of the big races, usually from the previous weekend, who could impact the next Triple Crown. We’ll be taking a close look at impressive winners and evaluating their chances to win important races based upon ability, running style, connections (owner, trainer, jockey) and pedigree. 
This week we take a closer look at Upstart, winner of the $400,000 Lambholm South Holy Bull Stakes on Jan. 24 at Gulfstream Park. 

Upstart’s 2015 debut signaled the Flatter ridgling is definitely a 3-year-old to watch. Not only did he earn 10 points and move up to third on the Road to the Kentucky Derby leaderboard, Upstart recorded a career-best Equibase Speed Figure in his first start in 12 weeks. Some horses improve more than others as they mature from juveniles to 3-year-olds and Upstart, who was twice Grade 1-placed at two, looks like the time off did him quite well.

Upstart
Dark Bay or Brown Ridgling
Sire (Father): Flatter
Dam (Mother): Party Silks, by Touch Gold
Owner: Ralph M. Evans
Breeder: Mrs. Gerald A. Nielsen (N.Y.)
Trainer: Rick Violette

“We were pretty confident that he was going to run well,” trainer Rick Violette said. “You just hope that the talent he showed as a 2-year-old transfers into a good 3-year-old, and a lot of horses don’t. They’re a little more precocious, a little more mature as a 2-year-old, and sometimes that’s their best stuff. You hope to see the graduation, and I think we saw it.”
Ability: Upstart’s 111 Equibase Speed Figure was seven points higher than any other 3-year-old has earned in a stakes race in 2015, easily outdistancing the 104 Calculator posted when winning the Grade 3 Sham Stakes on Dec. 10. It also was a faster figure than any 2-year-old registered in a stakes in 2014, edging Daredevil’s 110 that he posted when defeating Upstart in the slop in the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes on Oct. 4. Right now, he is as fast as any 3-year-old.
Upstart has always shown ability. He won his career debut by 5 ¼ lengths as the 3-to-2 favorite on Aug. 15 at Saratoga Race Course and came back nine days later to win the Funny Cide Stakes at the Spa by a length. He improved from a 90 Equibase Speed Figure in his debut to a 101 speed figure in the Funny Cide. He earned a then-career best 109 speed figure when second by 2 ½ lengths to Daredevil in the Champagne before regressing to a 96 when third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.
Upstart has placed in a pair of Grade 1s, won a stakes at Saratoga and earned his first graded stakes victory in the Grade 2 Holy Bull Stakes. A $130,000 purchase by owner Ralph M. Evans at the 2013 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale of preferred New York-bred yearlings, Upstart has put together an impressive resume in five lifetime starts.
Running style: With a slower pace in the Holy Bull Stakes than Upstart had faced in his previous three races, he was able to race within two lengths of the pace after getting away to a good start from post position eight under Jose Ortiz. Upstart moved up to challenge for the lead with about three-eighths of a mile to go and then powered away to win easily.
“With his post position – and this was a tough race – if you tap on the brakes a little bit, you’re six wide and you’re going to be widest on both turns. He needed to be a little more aggressive leaving there to get position, and Jose did the right thing,” Violette said.

Previous Making the Grades
Competitive Edge
American Pharoah
Carpe Diem
Daredevil
Texas Red
Ocho Ocho Ocho
El Kabeir
Leave the Light On
Nasa
Dortmund
Calculator
International Star

“When they went 24 [seconds for the first quarter], I said, ‘We’re in a good spot.’ When they went 48, I said, ‘We’re in exactly the right spot.’ You couldn’t have asked for a better ride.”
In his previous four races, Upstart had not been closer than fourth after the opening quarter-mile and was from 2 ½ lengths off the pace to 5 ½ lengths back. Upstart definitely is willing to listen to his rider and very ratable, which is a significant advantage and tells a lot about his maturity with only five races under his saddle.
On the other hand, Upstart also has plenty of speed. In his debut win, Upstart was only 2 ½ lengths back after a fast opening quarter-mile in :22.49, so he can adjust to different scenarios to place himself in good position to win.
Connections: Trainer Rick Violette has amassed 796 victories from 4,933 starters through Jan. 27 with 32 graded stakes victories among among 82 career stakes wins. Violette, a Worcester, Mass., native who will turf 61 on Jan. 30, has served as president of the national Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association since 2000. Violette’s top runners to date include multiple Grade 1 winner Dream Rush and Grade 1 victor Man From Wicklow.
Violette’s Read the Footnotes finished seventh in the 2004 Kentucky Derby and last year he enjoyed his best finish in the first jewel of the Triple Crown with Samraat, who finished fifth in the Derby and sixth in the Belmont Stakes.
Upstart would be the first Kentucky Derby starter for owner Ralph M. Evans, who in addition to Upstart has raced multiple graded stakes winner March Magic and Grade 3 winner Free of Love, the latter in partnership.
UPSTART AND JOSE ORTIZ AFTER THE WIN

Jockey Jose Ortiz’s first Kentucky Derby mount came in 2014 with Samraat. Since taking out his jockey’s license in 2012, Ortiz has won 51 stakes and 18 graded stakes from 578 victories through Jan. 27. He won a pair of Grade 1 races with Belle Gallantey and also earned Grade 1 victories aboard Strong Mandate and By the Moon.
Pedigree: Upstart is from the eighth crop of Grade 2-placed Flatter, a son of elite sire A.P. Indy. Flatter’s top runners to date include multiple Grade 1 winner Flat Out, a career earner of $3,645,383; Grade 2 winners Taris, Tar Heel Mom, Kobe’s Back and Apart; and multiple graded stakes winner Mad Flatter.
Flatter won from 7 ½ furlongs to 1 1/8 miles among four victories in six career starts and finished third in the 1 3/16-mile, Grade 2 Washington Park Handicap. Flatter is a full-brother (same dam [mother], same sire [father]) to multiple Grade 1-placed graded stakes winner and sire Congrats.
Upstart should get a nice dose of stamina from his sire, who has a solid track record with 34 stakes winners among 323 winners from 430 starters through Jan. 27.
Upstart is out of an unraced mare named Party Silks, by 1997 Belmont Stakes winner Touch Gold (by Deputy Minister). Party Silks is a half-sister to Grade 2 winner Josh’s Madelyn, who primarily was a sprinter but won at up to a mile.
Upstart’s granddam (maternal grandmother) is stakes-placed sprinter Intend to Win by Housebuster, who produced nine winners from nine starters including the aforementioned Josh’s Madelyn. His third dam (maternal great-grandmother), Intently, was a multiple stakes winner sprinting who produced Gone for Real, a graded stakes winner at 1 1/16 miles on the grass, and stakes-winning sprinter Crafty Buzz.
This is not a pedigree with a slew of household names jumping off the page, but from a stamina perspective a 3-year-old by Flatter out of a Touch Gold mare should have as much of a chance as most of his rivals to be effective at the 1 ¼-mile Kentucky Derby distance. In fact, the first name I thought of when I took a closer look was 2007 Belmont Stakes-winning filly Rags to Riches, who is by A.P. Indy out of Better Than Honour, by Deputy Minister, and thus bred on the same cross as Upstart.
It would be nice to see a few more big-time stakes winners in the pedigree, particularly at longer distances, but with the talent he has displayed in five starts, Upstart has jumped near the front of his class. Keep a close eye on this 3-year-old.