Saratoga Spotlight: What's up with Bolt d’Oro?
With a big weekend of stakes races for the 3-year-old colts just passed, it's fair to wonder: What's up with Bolt d’Oro? His rival from the 2017 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, Good Magic, returned to an impressive victory in the Haskell Invitational and Hofburg overwhelmed the field in the Curlin. Yet, Bolt d’Oro remains on the sidelines.
Entering the year, many experts ranked the west coast-based Bolt d’Oro near the top of the class, even above Good Magic, who had soundly defeated the Mick Ruis trainee in the Breeders’ Cup. They felt that Bolt d’Oro had more upside than Good Magic, the colt from the barn of Chad Brown.
With a bit of help from the California stewards, the year got off on the right foot for Bolt, when he was awarded the first-place honors in the San Felipe (G2) after McKinzie was disqualified. However, in three subsequent races, the son of Medaglia d’Oro was unable to find the winner’s circle.
Hopes remained high after Bolt d’Oro finished second in the Santa Anita Derby (G1) behind the future Triple Crown winner Justify, defeating the rest of the field soundly. In the Kentucky Derby (G1) he finished 12th, and then cut back in distance. While facing older horses he was 11th and last in the Met Mile (G1) at Belmont Park.
Eventually trainer Mick Ruis decided to send his horse east to the barn of Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen. Coming off the brilliant training job with the Horse of the Year Gun Runner, Asmussen seems like a great choice to rekindle the talents of Bolt d’Oro.
In hopes of trying to get some insight into the status of Bolt d’Oro. I asked Asmussen about the horse who had joined his barn just last week.
“He’s an extremely classy horse, an absolutely beautiful physical look and we’ve had him on the racetrack for a few days,” said the trainer. “He’s just jogging at this point. We obviously for excited about who he is.”
When asked if Asmussen had an idea of when we might see him back racing, the sometimes tight-lipped conditioner reiterated.
“Like I said, he came into the barn and he looks good," Asmussen said. "He’s jogging at this stage, so we obviously haven’t circled a race.”
Clearly, the Travers is not a possibility for Bolt d’Oro. So, with Good Magic and the others making their returns to the races, Bolt d’Oro has become the mystery horse of the 3-year-old class, still loaded with potential, but surrounded by questions.