Upstart Still on Travers Fence

Ralph Evans and WinStar Farm's Upstart (Flatter) continues to please trainer Rick Violette, but the colt is still not certain to participate in Saturday's GI Travers S. “My horse continues to do great,” Violette said. “He's not telling me not to run. I really keep waiting for some pivotal moment that will push me either way, and it hasn't happened yet. Right now, I'm preparing him like we're going to run.”

Upstart returned from the sidelines to run third behind American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile) in the Aug. 2 GI Haskell Invitational last time out. He drew the rail in the 10-horse Travers.

“If we had drawn the 10 hole, that would have been a significant negative,” Violette said of the draw. “I don't think any of us can overcome a less-than-perfect trip. The only horse that can is American Pharoah. He can have less than a perfect tour around there and probably still beat us, and the rest of us need to have everything go our way. The one hole helps. We'll save ground the first turn, and who knows what happens second turn.”

Should he skip the Travers, Upstart will be rerouted to the Sept. 19 GII Pennsylvania Derby.

Of choosing between the two races, Violette said, “It's the real paradox. You're supposed to run horses when they're doing great, when they're moving well, eating well, happy, sound–and he's all of that. He's also run well over this racetrack and he's trained well. But, the other axiom is, you win a lot more races when you're 4-1 or less, and in three weeks we'll be a lot less than 4-1 for $1 million. If that race wasn't there, it'd be a no-brainer to run here, but it's also a business. It's a lot of money. We could run back in that spot, but it wouldn't be like pointing for that spot–there's a difference. That's the internal battle I'm still having.”

Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.

Copy Article Link

X

Never miss another story from the TDN

Click Here to sign up for a free subscription.