Upstart starts to prepare for return

ELMONT, N.Y. – Upstart, who was eased to the wire by jockey Jose Ortiz far behind American Pharoah in the Kentucky Derby, returned to trainer Rick Violette’s barn at Aqueduct late last week to resume training for a summer and fall campaign.

Upstart was sent to WinStar Farm, which purchased a share in him just prior to the Derby, to unwind after the Kentucky Derby. Violette sent Upstart to the track to jog for the first time on Tuesday.

“We gave him about 2 1/2 weeks at WinStar to rest and recharge his batteries, and I’ll probably just play with him a little bit here, give him a full month, before we get serious with him again,” said Violette. “We’re going to point him for the summer races at Saratoga – the Jim Dandy and Travers – so we have the luxury of a little bit of time. We’re in no rush to get him back to serious training at the moment.”

Violette said he still is at a loss to explain Upstart’s performance in the Derby following a big winter at Gulfstream Park. He was a convincing winner of the Grade 2 Holy Bull, was disqualified from an apparent victory in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth, and was second Materiality in the Grade 1 Florida Derby.

“His blood count could have been better after the Derby and Jose felt strongly that he didn’t handle the racetrack at all,” said Violette. “Maybe the tough races in Florida did takes its toll, as well as the little sinus infection he developed, although he never indicated any of that the way he trained going into the Derby. We’ll never know for sure exactly why he didn’t show up that day. All we do know is that he couldn’t have picked a worse time to go absent without leave on us.”

Violette also reported that Samraat, the fifth-place finisher in the 2014 Derby, is doing well and ready to start working regularly again. Samraat has been sidelined since his sixth-place finish in last year’s Belmont Stakes due to a stress fracture in the cannon bone.

“We’ve given him three or four little short breezes, an eighth- to a quarter-mile, to test drive him and lay down some foundation, and he’s passed with flying colors,” said Violette. “They had to drill a number of holes in his cannon bone to promote substantial bone grown and the healing process took longer than we had expected. But he’s really matured, he’s doing excellent, and we’re really excited to have him back.”