Upstart getting freshened for next year

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Upstart, third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, is back in New York, but only briefly.

Trainer Rick Violette said Upstart won’t run in the Grade 2, $400,000 Remsen Stakes and instead will soon ship to south Florida to begin preparing for a 3-year-old campaign.

With Upstart, Violette hopes to get a New York-bred to the Kentucky Derby for a second straight year. This year, he finished fifth with Samraat, the winner of the Withers and Gotham stakes.

“If you run in the Remsen, when do you give them time off?” Violette said. “He’s had four hard races. We’ll let him cool his heels a little bit.”

In the Juvenile, Upstart broke from the outside post and lost a right front shoe, Violette said. He just got caught late by Carpe Diem for second, with both 6 1/2 lengths behind runaway winner Texas Red.

“He ran hard, the post position stunk, and we paid a price for it,” Violette said. “He could’ve been second.”

Meanwhile, Samraat has been sidelined since the summer with a stress fracture in his right front shin, and Violette said he returned to the track Wednesday for the first time, jogging once around Aqueduct’s main track.

“We’ve been riding him around the barn for a few weeks,” Violette said. “He’ll head to Florida soon, too.”