Upstart scheduled to work Monday for possible Holy Bull bid

Multiple Grade 1-placed Upstart continues to progress toward his sophomore

debut, which may come in the Grade 2, $400,000 Holy Bull on January 24 at

Gulfstream Park.

Trainer Rick Violette said the three-year-old son of Flatter will breeze five

furlongs Monday morning at Palm Meadows, Gulfstream's satellite training

facility in Palm Beach County. It will be the fourth and longest timed work

since the New York-bred ridgling arrived in South Florida.

"He's doing great," Violette said. "We'll have tomorrow's breeze and then

another one. I'm kind of a work and a half behind. We'll see how easily he does

those and how much he blows and how he comes out of his next two breezes. We'd

love to make the Holy Bull without getting ahead of ourselves. We'll see how he

does things and go from there."

Owned by Ralph Evans, Upstart joined Violette's

southern string in mid-November and had his first three-furlong breeze in :37

1/5 on December 23. He followed with a pair of half-mile works, going :50 on

December 31 and :49 on January 6.

Violette, who is shuttling back and forth between Florida and New York this

winter, was on hand for the work.