Ruis expects big things from Del Mar Futurity contender Bolt d’Oro

The newly-formed Ruis Racing Stable of owner Mick Ruis, Sr., pulled off a big surprise when its Union Strike, trained by Ruis’ daughter Shelbe, won the Grade I Del Mar Debutante last summer. Mick is back, doing the training himself, and looking forward to taking a shot at another 2-year-old championship when he saddles Bolt d’Oro in Monday’s $300,000 Grade I Del Mar Futurity.

Ruis, a longtime local resident who made his fortune off the San Diego-based American Scaffolding Company he owned, returned to the racing business in a big way as an owner early in 2016 and by the end of the year had renewed a training license he held in the early 2000s.

In August of last year, not long before Union Strike beat American Pharoah’s full sister American Cleopatra and eventual Eclipse Award Juvenile Filly champion Champagne Room in the Debutante, Ruis purchased Bolt d’Oro for $630,000 at the Fasig Tipton yearling sale.

“We paid a lot for him, but he looks like a horse that can take us where we want to go. We’re very excited,” Ruis said Friday while watching the son of Medaglia d’Oro out of the A.P. Indy mare Globe gallop.

The Ruis family owns ranches in Descanso, California and Big Fork, Montana, and it was to the Montana farm that Bolt d’Oro was sent for early training by Ike Green, the manager who had picked him out at the sale.

“Ike has been getting on horses for 30 years, and he said he’s never been on one like this,” Ruis said. “He moves so well you don’t realize how fast he’s going. He’s very mature for a 2-year-old and nothing seems to bother him.”

Bolt d’Oro made his racing debut on August 5 here and was a 2 ¼-length winner at 6 ½ furlongs under Corey Nakatani. The Futurity is seven furlongs and to the victor goes, in addition to a $180,000 share of the purse, the role of top West Coast contender for the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile here on Saturday, November 4, and possibly the Kentucky Derby next May.

“I like having Corey Nakatani to ride him. Corey’s got a lot of experience in big races and he’ll put you in a spot where you can win,” Ruis said. “The goal would be the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. Ideally, that would be his third race over this track, which would be an advantage over most of the others.”

The field from the rail: Soul Streit (Mike Smith, 4-1), Master Ruler (Evin Roman, 20-1), Run Away (Flavien Prat, 5-2), Tatters to Riches (Tyler Baze, 4-1), Fleetwood (Kent Desormeaux, 20-1), Bolt d’Oro (Corey Nakatani, 6-1), Gracida (Victor Espinoza, 12-1), Dia de Pago (Santiago Gonzalez, 12-1) and Zatter (Rafael Bejarano, 7-2).