Upstart to Start 2016 Season in Razoback

Millionaire graded stakes winner Upstart is scheduled to make his first start at 4 in the Razorback Handicap (gr. III) March 19 at Oaklawn Park.

The New York-bred son of Flatter  , co-owned by Ralph Evans and WinStar Farm, is coming back off a several-month layover at WinStar Farm, which trainer Rick Violette Jr. said did him a world of good.

"During last year, we struggled a bit to keep weight on him," Violette said March 10. "Now he is holding weight really, really well. Being by Flatter, his pedigree says he has a license to improve at 4."

Flatter, a son of A.P. Indy who stands at Claiborne Farm, has produced a handful of successful handicap division stakes winners. Flat Out   won grade I stakes at 5, 6, and 7. Taris and Kobe's Back won graded stakes at 4 and 5, while Tar Heel Mom and Classic Point were graded stakes winners at 5 and 6.

Upstart has been training at the Palm Meadows Training Center in South Florida, where he had been aimed for the March 5 Gulfstream Park Handicap (gr. II). After working a solid five furlongs Feb. 28 in 1:00.25, Violette decided the ridgling needed a little more time.

"He was a couple of weeks behind, and I didn't want to throw him to the wolves on his first start back," Violette said of the decision to bypass the Gulfstream Park Handicap. Upstart followed with a one-mile work March 5 at Palm Meadows in 1:40.65.

"If he breezed like he did for the mile before the Gulfstream Park Handicap, then we would have had a decision to make," Violette said. "As it turned out, the timing was better with the Razorback. In his last work, he went the way we like to see him go."

If Upstart performs well at Oaklawn, Violette said he might return for the April 16 Oaklawn Handicap (gr. II).