Bolt d'Oro slated to work Saturday for San Felipe Stakes

ARCADIA, Calif. – The most highly anticipated three-furlong workout of the California winter season will take place Saturday at Santa Anita, where Bolt d’Oro is scheduled for his first timed drill of 2018.

A pulled muscle in late December interrupted training for Bolt d’Oro, the Mick Ruis-owned and -trained colt who is a leading candidate for the Kentucky Derby after a 2-year-old campaign that included two Grade 1 wins and a third in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.

Although he recovered from the minor setback, Bolt d’Oro missed nearly a week and a half of training before he resumed galloping the first weekend in January. On Tuesday morning at Santa Anita, Ruis said the colt’s first workout will be Saturday. He confirmed Bolt d’Oro will return March 10 in Grade 2 San Felipe Stakes at Santa Anita.

“If he doesn’t win the San Felipe, I’m firing me,” Ruis said.

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Ruis was only joking, but the quip was indicative of the owner-trainer’s confidence in the son of Medaglia d’Oro, who last year emerged as the top 2-year-old based in California.

Bolt d’Oro won three races including the Del Mar Futurity and FrontRunner at Santa Anita, prior to a wide-trip third behind Good Magic in the Breeders’ Cup. Bolt d’Oro is an Eclipse Award finalist for 2-year-old male, along with Good Magic and Solomini.

Ruis will attend the Eclipse Awards ceremony Thursday night at Gulfstream Park, and return to California early Friday.

The once-a-week work schedule Ruis planned for Bolt d’Oro leaves little margin to adjust. Following his three-furlong work Saturday, he is scheduled for two half-mile works, two longer works in company, and a five-furlong solo drill before the mile and a sixteenth San Felipe.

Plans call for Bolt d’Oro to have two starts leading into the Kentucky Derby – the San Felipe on March 10, and Santa Anita Derby on April 7.