Upstart returns to work Friday morning

By: SPORTS NETWORK

Hallandale Beach, FL (SportsNetwork.com) - Florida Derby runner-up Upstart had a four-furlong workout Friday morning at Palm Meadows training facility as the 3-year-old moves toward a start in the Kentucky Derby.

Upstart, trained by Rick Violette, was timed in 47.40 seconds for the half- mile and galloped out five furlongs in 59.47 seconds under exercise rider Vicki King.

"All in all, wow," Violette said. "He did things so easily. He wouldn't pull up on the backside. He galloped out three-quarters in 14 (seconds), and that was under orders for the rider on the walkie-talkie to ease him up. I'm not sure if we could have done things any differently or any better. He's just a good horse, and we try not to get in his way.

"We breezed a day early, so now I have an extra day to let him bounce out of this if it's taken any toll on him, which I don't know if it did. He's not a brilliant workhorse. He'll do what you ask him to do, but today offered a lot for him. He fools people a lot. He looks like he's going in 50 and he goes in 47. He does what good horses do. Today, he showed us that we're not supposed to cancel any travel plans."

Owned by Ralph Evans, Upstart won the Holy Bull Stakes at Gulfstream Park, but was disqualified in the Fountain of Youth Stakes from first to second behind Itsaknockout before running second to Materiality in the Florida Derby on March 28. He will have one more workout in South Florida late next week before departing for Kentucky on April 28.