Bolt d'Oro to skip Preakness, point to Met Mile

Bolt d'Oro, 12th in the Kentucky Derby, will not run in the Preakness Stakes on Saturday at Pimlico and will instead be pointed to the $1.2 million Met Mile on the Belmont Stakes card June 9, owner-trainer Mick Ruis said Sunday morning.

Ruis said he wants to do "the best for Bolt, as much as I would love to run in the Preakness."

He said Bolt d'Oro is "doing great and looks fantastic." He has been training at Keeneland the past week with Ruis's Kentucky-based assistant, Austin Trites.

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The Met Mile is an intriguing spot for Bolt d'Oro. It offers a cutback in distance, which should suit him after failing going 1 1/8 miles and 1 1/4 miles in his last two starts, and, as a 3-year-old facing older, he would get a huge weight break. He also avoids Justify, the Derby winner, to whom he has lost twice in a row, first in the Santa Anita Derby.

The last 3-year-old to win the Met Mile was Honour and Glory in 1996. He was the third 3-year-old to win that race in five years during that decade, following Holy Bull (1994) and Dixie Brass (1992). In 1982, Conquistador Cielo won the Met Mile on Memorial Day - the day on which it was run for decades - and then five days later won the Belmont Stakes, becoming the first of five straight Belmont winners for trainer Woody Stephens.