Kentucky Derby 2018 favorite Bolt d'Oro to miss San Vicente
Bolt d'Oro, the early 2018 Kentucky Derby favorite and likely 2-year-old champion colt, will skip his anticipated seasonal debut, the Daily Racing Form reported Thursday, after missing training time due to a pulled muscle.
Trainer Mick Ruis told DRF that Bolt d'Oro will not go as anticipated in the Grade 2 San Vicente Stakes, a one-turn race scheduled for Feb. 10.
Ruis said it wasn't that he "went too hard" training Bolt d'Oro, but rather suspects “he got cast one evening. I have a 24-hour night [watchman], and he never said he got stuck, but you can get cast a little bit.”
Per the report, a nuclear scan of the son of Medaglia d'Oro came back clean Wednesday, alleviating concerns the multiple Grade 1 winner could be suffering from something worse.
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Ruis had hoped to work Bolt d'Oro for the first time on New Year's Eve. Instead, the colt resumed jogging this week and will work later.
Ruis, who also owns the $650,000 purchase, debated between running Bolt d'Oro in two or three preps before the Kentucky Derby. This setback seemingly narrows the window to two, with a sensible comeback spot the Grade 2, $400,000 San Felipe Stakes should the horse continue running exclusively at Santa Anita Park as Ruis planned.
Having run third in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, Bolt d'Oro currently sits second on the road to the Derby points leader board with 14. A top-three finish in any of the final preps has traditionally paid out more than enough points for a spot in the 20-horse starting gate at Churchill Downs.