Upstart all set for Kelso Handicap
ELMONT, N.Y. – Upstart, third to Frosted in both the Metropolitan Handicap and Whitney Stakes, worked four furlongs in 48 seconds Friday over the main track in preparation for the Grade 2, $350,000 Kelso at Belmont on Oct. 8.
Upstart got his last quarter in 23.39 seconds.
“He went off in 24 and change and came home in 23 and change,” said trainer Rick Violette. “Looked good doing it. I’ll end up doing another one similar next week. He’s dead fit; he’s been running all year. We just need to maintain where he is right now.”
Upstart is owned by Ralph Evans and WinStar Farm. Upstart’s solid work was probably uplifting to Evans, who in the past several weeks has lost two promising juvenile prospects to career-ending injuries.
Random Walk, a son of Super Saver who won his debut and finished second in the Grade 3 Sanford, injured a sesamoid while training at Saratoga. Olive Branch, a daughter of Speightstown who won her debut and ran third in the Grade 2 Adirondack, suffered an injury working on the turf course here last Sunday. Both horses will be retired.
Meanwhile, WinStar Farm’s Diversify returned from a two-month layoff Thursday with a 5 1/2-length win over Born for a Storm in a New York-bred, first-level allowance. Diversify, a 3-year-old son of Bellamy Road ridden by Jose Ortiz, set fractions of 23.52 seconds for the quarter, 46.68 for a half-mile, 1:10.26 for six furlongs and ran a mile 1:34.04. He earned a 90 Beyer Speed Figure, the same as he got in his debut in July, when he ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:44.31 in winning by 4 1/2 lengths.
“It was a really nice race,” Violette said Friday. “I told Jose I didn’t want to go 22, 45 yesterday, either. He did a good job. He tapped on the brakes, and he still came home in 23 and change. I think he beat a nice horse in [Born for a Storm].”
Violette said Diversify needed time off after running so hard in his debut on “a brutally hot day.”
“It gutted him,” Violette said. “He fell off weight-wise, so we just regrouped. WinStar said run him when he’s ready, so we blew off Saratoga.”
Violette said one race that would be considered for Diversify is the Grade 3, $150,000 Discovery Stakes at Aqueduct on Nov. 12.