GRADE 3 HOLY BULL

STAKES

NEW York-bred Upstart proved his class, tracking the pace into the final turn, before drawing away impressively to win the Grade 2 Holy Bull Stakes by 5½ lengths at Gulfstream Park last Saturday.

The 3/2 favourite Frosted got up for second, while pacesetter Bluegrass Singer held on for third place.

The Holy Bull is worth points of 10 to the winner on the road to the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby, a path the three-year-old son of Flatter will follow for owner Ralph M. Evans and trainer Rick Violette Jr. He now ranks third on the Kentucky Derby leaderboard with 16 points, behind El Kabeir and International Star (both at 21).

Upstart was making his 2015 debut after a two-year-old campaign that included a second in the Grade 1 Champagne Stakes at Belmont Park and a third in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita Park.

“You never know if they’ll make the grade when they turn from two to three and today, he definitely moved forward,” Violette said.

Breaking from stall eight, in a field of nine, Upstart was never far from the pace and ran three wide around both turns. “It was perfect,” Ortiz said. “By the half-mile pole, I let him go and said, ‘Let’s see what we have here,’ and when we turned for home, we rolled. He was very good. He jumped into the bit, and I knew he was ready. I think he wants to go a mile and a quarter, so we will hopefully make the Kentucky Derby with him.”

“We’ll see how he bounces off this and follow his lead,” Violette remarked. “It could be that we’ll stay here (for the $1 million Grade 1 Florida Derby on March 28th) to give us the extra two weeks going into the (Kentucky) Derby. That might be the thing to do.”

Last year, Violette had New York-bred Samraat on the Derby trail. The colt won the Grade 3 Withers, the Gotham and was second in the Grade 1 Wood Memorial before running fifth in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby and sixth in the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes.