Samraat could make comeback at Saratoga

ELMONT, N.Y. – Samraat, the multiple-graded-stakes-winning New York-bred who has not raced in a year, is working toward a return to the races. On Wednesday at Aqueduct, he worked a mile in 1:44.63, his fourth published work.

As a 3-year-old last year, Samraat won the Withers and Gotham at Aqueduct before running second in the Wood Memorial, his first defeat. He ran fifth in the Kentucky Derby and sixth in the Belmont Stakes. Samraat injured a cannon bone while working toward a start in the Jim Dandy.

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Samraat had started back in training earlier this year, but the injury was not totally healed, so trainer Rick Violette had to back off again.

“The last month, that cannon bone finally solidified, got dense enough,” Violette said.

Violette did not have a particular race picked out for Samraat but is targeting the Saratoga meet for him.

Meanwhile, Upstart, the Holy Bull Stakes winner who finished last in this year’s Kentucky Derby, has been back galloping at Aqueduct and could return to the work tab this weekend, Violette said.

Violette said he is looking at the Jim Dandy or the Haskell Invitational, both the first weekend in August, for Upstart’s next race.