Union Strike Wins Debutante, Provides First Stakes Win For Trainer
For young trainer Shelbe Ruis, the year 2016 may end up being her most memorable… or close to the most memorable anyway, as in just under five months, the 25-year-old went from obtaining her trainer’s license, to saddling her first winner, to standing in the winner’s circle with her first stakes victor following Union Strike’s impressive 2 ¼-length score in the $300,000 Del Mar Debutante (GI).
After serving as an assistant to veteran trainer Cliff Sise Jr., Ruis decided earlier this year it was time to strike out on her own. In April, she obtained her trainer’s license and with the backing of her family — including her father Mick and her brother, former jockey Mick Ruis Jr. — in the form of support and the horses to train, by May 15 she’d saddled her first winner. On Saturday, she saddled her first stakes winners in one of the biggest races of the Del Mar meeting.