Ruis details Bolt d'Oro's move to the Asmussen barn

Multiple Grade 1 winner Bolt d'Oro wasted no time in being shipped to new trainer Steve Asmussen's barn, settling in with the Hall of Famer's Saratoga contingent on the Oklahoma Training Track side Friday morning.

Bolt d'Oro, who had been trained by owner Mick Ruis, was moved to Asmussen's stable from Ruis' farm in Kentucky.

"If they told you [that] you were getting Bolt d'Oro, would you drag your feet?" asked Asmussen with a laugh. "He's here. He's a gorgeous horse. He looks great."

Ruis said his packed schedule and Asmussen's talents, which include saddling Horse of the Year winners Curlin, Rachel Alexandra and Gun Runner, made him a good fit to take over training responsibilities. 

"I'm super busy with my company right now and the last six months of my life were only Bolt d'Oro and the Derby trail, so I just said the best thing for him is to have someone like Steve, who has had three Horses of the Year," Ruis, who co-owns Bolt d'Oro with wife, Wendy, said by phone. "I told him, 'This is what I know about him, this is what we've got out of him, Steve. He's all yours.'

"He was real excited," Ruis added. "He had been to my farm four times before he even left and I don't think Bolt was even there a month. To have him go over there and have Steve be so excited about it, that was really exciting for myself and my wife."

Asmussen did not say when Bolt d'Oro will run next.

"I'm leaving that up to Steve," Ruis said. "Even though I trained him and had him since a yearling, broke him and all that, if I'm going to turn the reins over to a Hall of Fame trainer, I don't think I want to give him any instructions."

Ruis left open the possibility of Bolt d'Oro running as a 4-year-old, which will be predicated on his health, racing success and the opinion of B. Wayne Hughes, the owner of Spendthrift Farm, who has secured 50 percent of Bolt d'Oro's breeding rights.

"Mr. Hughes knows how to make money, I know how to make money, in business and working, but there's no thrill like having a horse at the caliber we think Bolt can be, just the memories he can bring us. That's my hope," Ruis said. "I'm under contract next year in January to retire him and I'm sticking with that, but I'm just hoping that Bolt can finish really good and maybe we could consider running him as a 4-year-old."

Bolt d'Oro started his career 3 for 3 with wins in the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity on September 4 and the Grade 1 FrontRunner on September 30 at Santa Anita. He capped his 2-year-old campaign with a third-place finish in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile on November 4 at Del Mar and came back from a nearly four-month break to capture the Grade 2 San Felipe via the disqualification of McKinzie on March 10 at Santa Anita.

A second-place finish to eventual Triple Crown winner Justify in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby on April 7 was his last on-the-board finish, with the Medaglia d'Oro colt running 12th in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby on May 5 at Churchill Downs and 11th in the Grade 1 Runhappy Metropolitan Handicap on Belmont Stakes Day, June 9.