Bolt d'Oro trainer has road to 2018 Kentucky Derby in mind

By Jonathan Lintner

When Mick Ruis said after Bolt d’Oro’s first stakes win that his colt was “only 70 percent cranked,” he knew people were laughing.

But, the owner and trainer quipped, “Now they see what I meant.”

In an article posted Tuesday to BreedersCup.com, Ruis reaffirmed that he trained Bolt d’Oro to run route races — and he laid out a schedule leading up to the ultimate test for a promising colt.

Should the son of Medaglia d’Oro go on from a would-be win in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, Ruis has mapped out his horse’s road to the 2018 Kentucky Derby, for which the Wynn Las Vegas already lists the colt as a 10-1 favorite six months from the first Saturday in May.

“After the Breeders’ Cup we’ll give him 60 says off and get two races into him at 3,” Ruis said. “If we get lucky and get where we want to go, it will be one race, then the Santa Anita Derby and, hopefully, the Kentucky Derby.

“It’s all the stuff that dreams are made of.”

A $630,000 yearling purchase, Bolt d’Oro is unbeaten in three starts and already has a pair of Grade 1 wins in the Del Mar Futurity and Santa Anita’s FrontRunner. Ruis’ roadmap is similar to the one used by trainer Doug O’Neill with 2016 Derby winner Nyquist, who won the Juvenile, then raced just twice again before heading to Churchill Downs.

First thing’s first, however, with the Juvenile set for Nov. 4 at Del Mar.

“It’s a super exciting time for us,” Ruis told BreedersCup.com. “Our stable’s not that big. It’s not small, but it’s not big, either. A horse like him is incredible for us.”