Upstart Misses Breeze

Upstart (Flatter), a powerful winner of the GII Lambholm South Holy Bull S. at Gulfstream Park Jan. 24, was forced to miss a workout at Palm Meadows Saturday morning after spiking a fever. 

“He had a higher than normal temperature, so we have to see where that's going,” trainer Rick Violette said. “We just skipped the breeze, and we'll see what happens. If it goes up, then we'll have to really address it, and if it's just a bump on the screen, we'll re-plan his breeze. We'll gallop him a couple days and see what's going on. Right now, it's too early to give any kind of intelligent answer other than, we'll take his temperature later and see what happens.” 

The Ralph Evans colorbearer, disqualified from first and placed second in the GII Besilu Stables Fountain of Youth S. Feb. 21, was a game second in the GI Besilu Stables Florida Derby Mar. 28. Last term's GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile third-place finisher hasn't returned to the worktab since. 

“We noticed it mid-morning,” Violette said of Upstart's fever. “His temp was a little bit higher than normal early, and he had a dirty nose later. We had tack on him and were ready to go, and [assistant trainer] Melissa [Cohen] took [his temperature] again, and it was climbing. We're better off not breezing. If you breeze a horse that's about to get sick, you're going to make him really sick. Everything's on hold until we know which way this thing is going.” 

Violette continued, “He's acting great. He looks wonderful. He's not acting sick. There's no question [it's better to have it happen now rather than later]. If we had breezed him, and he was getting sick, then we could make him very, very sick. It's better that we caught it early, and we'll just deal with the cards, that's all.”