Trainer Mick Ruis was off to a dream start for the fall meeting at Santa Anita after saddling a three-bagger on Friday's opening-day program. Just when Ruis thought that things couldn't get any better, they did just that Saturday afternoon when Bolt d'Oro (Medaglia d'Oro) turned on the afterburners in the stretch of the GI FrontRunner S. and stamped himself the early favorite for the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Del Mar five weeks down the road.
“This was pretty cool,” said Ruis. “We thought he was going to run a good race. We thought he could run two turns, and now we know he can. Our goal was this race and the Breeders' Cup, and then give him a chance to grow up. Hopefully what dreams are made of is what this guy might be able to get us to.”
Perfect in his two career tries heretofore, including a 3/4-length defeat of Zatter (Midnight Lute) when last seen in the GI Del Mar Futurity Sept. 4, Bolt d'Oro was better into stride than he was on that latter occasion and was always traveling like a winner beneath Corey Nakatani. Allowed to stride into the lead nearing the exit to the turn, he cornered just a bit wide into the stretch, but turned it on from there to win by daylight. Solomini (Curlin) raced about four wide the trip and stayed on nicely to be second ahead of Take the One O One (Acclamation) in third.
“We learned that he could break today,” Ruis added. “We always knew he could but we didn't want him to think he was a sprinter in those other races so I think we're on the right track.”
Saturday, Santa Anita
FRONTRUNNER S.-GI, $301,380, SA, 9-30, 2yo, 1 1/16m, 1:43.54, ft.
1–BOLT D'ORO, 122, c, 2, by Medaglia d'Oro&log=">Medaglia d'Oro
1st Dam: Globe Trot, by A.P. Indy
2nd Dam: Trip, by Lord At War (Arg)
3rd Dam: Tour, by Forty Niner
($630,000 Ylg '16 FTSAUG). O-Ruis Racing LLC; B-WinStar
Farm, LLC (KY); T-Mick Ruis; J-Corey S. Nakatani. $180,000.
Lifetime Record: 3-3-0-0, $396,000. *1/2 to Sonic Mule
(Distorted Humor), MSW & MGSP, $214,230. Click for the
eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. *Werk Nick Rating: A+++
*Triple Plus*.
2–Solomini, 122, c, 2, Curlin–Surf Song, by Storm Cat.
($270,000 Ylg '16 KEESEP). O-Zayat Stables, LLC; B-Glenna R.
Salyer (KY); T-Bob Baffert. $60,000.
3–Take the One O One, 122, c, 2, Acclamation–North Freeway,
by Jump Start. ($47,000 Ylg '16 NCAAUG). O-Jay Em Ess Stable;
B-Thomas W Bachman (CA); T-Brian J. Koriner. $36,000.
Margins: 7 3/4, 2HF, 3HF. Odds: 0.90, 3.20, 72.10.
Also Ran: Ayacara (GB), Zatter, Encumbered, City Plan, Continental Divide, Texas Wedge.
Click for the Equibase.com chart, the TJCIS.com PPs or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree. VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.
Nakatani, who returned to race riding earlier this year after mulling over his future, is in line for his first Breeders' Cup success since guiding Tapizar (Tapit) in the 2012 GI Dirt Mile.
“I was more impressed when I watched the replay,” he said. “I really liked the way he did it. He's confident wherever he is at, he is a special animal. Mick gave me the instructions and the horse did the rest. I'm looking forward to the Breeders' Cup as well as the first Saturday in May in Kentucky.”
Pedigree Notes:
Globe Trot, a $100,000 Keeneland September Yearling purchase in 2009, was bred by Claiborne and raced in the colors of WinStar Farm. The mare's first foal is Sonic Mule (Distorted Humor), second in last year's GII Saratoga Special and third in this year's GII Swale S. Bolt d'Oro is her second foal. The mare produced a colt by Curlin in 2016, but died last year. Out of Claiborne's multiple graded stakes winning homebred Trip, the mare was a half-sister to the dam of stakes winner and multiple graded stakes placed Recruiting Ready (Algorithms). Trip is a half-sister to multiple stakes winner Joke (Phone Trick), dam of multiple Grade I winner Zensational (Unbridled's Song), as well as to the dam of multiple graded stakes winner Departing (War Front).
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