Upstart Progressing Toward Sophomore Debut

Multiple grade I-placed Upstart will look to take another step forward toward his sophomore debut with a workout at Palm Meadows Training Center Jan. 12. 

 

Trainer Rick Violette has penciled in the $400,000 Lambholm South Holy Bull (gr. II) Jan. 24 at Gulfstream Park for the son of Flatter  , who was second in the Champagne Stakes (gr. I) in October at Belmont Park and third in the Sentient Jet Breeders' Cup Juvenile (gr. I) in November at Santa Anita Park. He is set to breeze five furlongs the morning of Jan. 12. 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. 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 :37.25  Dec. 23. He followed with a pair of half-mile works, going :50.05 Dec. 31 and :49.10 Jan. 6.

 

Violette, who is shuttling back and forth between Florida and New York this winter, was on hand for the work.

 

"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 Aug. 24. From there he was second to Daredevil in the Champagne, 12 3/4 lengths ahead of the rest of the field that included subsequent multiple graded stakes winner El Kabeir, the current leader on the Road to the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) leaderboard.

 

The Holy Bull, run at 1 1/16 miles, is part of the series of Derby preps and will award points to the first four finishers on a 10-4-2-1 basis.

 

In his final start at 2, Upstart was third, just a nose behind runner-up Carpe Diem, in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile.

 

"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."