Ruis gets first win as trainer since 2007

ARCADIA, Calif. – Trainer Mick Ruis went nearly 10 years between winners.

Ruis, 57, won an optional claimer at 6 1/2 furlongs last Saturday at Santa Anita with Rockport Babe ($38.60), his 15th starter at the meeting and his first winner since 2007.

“That feels good,” he said Sunday.

Later Sunday, Ruis won his first stakes as a trainer when the Grade 1 winner Union Strike won her first start of the year in the $79,290 Santa Paula Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at 6 1/2 furlongs.

Ruis quit training in late 2007 and resumed as an official trainer this year. Last year, he sold a partial interest in his company, American Scaffolding, and used some of the proceeds to fund the start of a racing stable.

His daughter Shelbe trained for him last summer and won the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante with Union Strike. Last fall, Mick Ruis and Shelbe Ruis severed their working relationship, with Craig Dollase taking over the stable. Mick Ruis completed his California requirements to become a trainer earlier this year and took over the stable, which he owns with his wife, Wendy. Rockport Babe was his first winner this year. Ruis had 17 winners from 2005-07.

Union Strike, by Union Rags, has been the stable star in the last year. She could run in the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes at 1 1/16 miles at Pimlico on May 19.

“I think she wants to stretch out,” Ruis said after the Santa Paula. “Her breeding says she can go long.”

Union Strike was sidelined by sore shins last winter.

“We gave her plenty of time to let her shins heal,” Ruis said. “We know we have a nice 3-year-old filly.”

Ruis has 34 horses at Santa Anita and 11 at the San Luis Rey Downs training center in San Diego County.

Rockport Babe won Saturday’s seventh race. In the eighth race, the Ruis-trained Midnight Pleasure finished 10th of 13 in the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby. Midnight Pleasure underwent an operation to correct a breathing problem last fall. The Santa Anita Derby was his second start of the year, preceded by a third in an optional claimer March 19.

“The breathing was good, and that’s the most important thing,” he said.

Ruis said the Grade 3 Lazaro Barrera Stakes for 3-year-olds at seven furlongs May 13 is a goal for Midnight Pleasure.