Upstart is Uplifting for Joanne Nielsen

Despite the fact she has seven empty mares and has yet to decide which stallions to breed to this year, Joanne Nielsen has had an uplifting start to 2015. That is because the New York horsewoman has been following the exploits of Upstart, winner of the Jan. 24 Holy Bull Stakes (gr. II) at Gulfstream Park.



Nielsen is the breeder of Upstart, a striking dark bay or brown ridgling by Flatter   owned by Ralph Evans, who drew clear in the Holy Bull to win by 5 1/2 lengths in his seasonal debut for trainer Richard Violette Jr.



Last year Upstart tore through maiden special weight and state-bred stakes foes at Saratoga Race Course prior to running second to Daredevil in the Champagne Stakes (gr. I) at Belmont Park. The New York-bred polished off his 2-year-old campaign with a good third in the Sentient Jet Breeders' Cup Juvenile (gr. I) at Santa Anita Park.



Out of the Touch Gold   mare Party Silks, Upstart was foaled at Nielsen's Sunnyfield Farm near Bedford, N.Y., which is between White Plains, N.Y., and New Canaan, Conn.



"He was very handsome; clearly the best-looking one from our crop that year," Nielsen said. "Our goal is to have eight foals a year, but we only had five (in 2012). We've had a lot of problems with very cold winters and the mares have been running late and a lot of times it is too late to breed them back."



Around the farm, the young Upstart was nicknamed "Lucky."



"He was born on Friday the 13th (April)," said Laura Larson, who oversees the operation at Sunnyfield. "He was jet black and the name just fit. He's more than lived up to his name. He was a great colt to be around; very easy going. He was never sick a day in his life. He was just on autopilot."



Party Silks is out of Intend to Win, a daughter of Housebuster  purchased by Joanne's late husband, Gerald, for $120,000 in foal to Honour and Glory in 2001. Party Silks never made it to the races. Upstart is the third foal out of Party Silks, who was foaled at Sunnyfield just days before Gerald's death at age 69 in 2004.



Gerald Nielsen, a prominent breeder, was president of the New York Thoroughbred Breeders at the time and the couple had been named New York breeders of the year for 2002. They started the Sunnyfield operation in 1974 when the New York breeding program was in its infancy.



"John Hettinger was our inspiration," Joanne Nielsen said. "He was a dear friend. We boarded for a while but that made us busier than we wanted to be. But we got lucky early on."



Gerald Nielsen bred Capades, a foal of 1986 who would earn more than $1 million and become a grade I winner for Poma Stable and trainer Richie O'Connell.



Neilsen offers all of her horses for sale. Consigned to the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale of preferred New York-bred yearlings, Evans purchased Upstart for $130,000 from the consignment of Summerfield, agent. The average price at the sale was $72,480.



Joanne Nielsen opted to go to Claiborne Farm in Central Kentucky to breed to Flatter because she was after a son of A.P. Indy. With the success of Upstart, she's gone back to the well as Party Silks is currently in foal to another son of A.P. Indy, Mineshaft  .



Nielsen makes her own breeding decisions and "uses everything possible" in determining her matings. She also consults with pedigree analyst Alan Porter.



"She's been working on this year's matings for months and she's still not done," Larson said.



Nielsen can be forgiven. The uplifting news from the last few days has been a little distracting.