Pegasus Turf: Hit The Road Ready To Fire His ‘A Game’ Off The Bench

While the Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational (G1) has long been in the plans for Hit the Road, trainer Dan Blacker did not expect to run in the race off a nearly four-month layoff.

Ah, but odd things happen in life and sport and Blacker has no choice but to train the Grade 1 winner up to his first start at 1 1/8 miles in the $1 million race Jan. 29 at Gulfstream Park.

Hit the Road, owned by DK Racing, Radley Equine, Taste of Victory Stables, Rick Gold, Tony Maslowski and Dave Odmark, gave Blacker, 39, the first Grade 1 win of his career with his neck victory over Smooth Like Strait in the Frank Kilroe Mile at Santa Anita. Blacker purchased the now 5-year-old son of More Than Ready in 2018 as a yearling in a private sale after he failed to reach his reserve price at a public auction.

“After he won a Grade 1 in March last year we had the Breeders' Cup in mind throughout the year,” Blacker said. “We were prepping him, then he had a fever the week before the race and we had to scratch him. To prepare a horse for that amount of time and to have to withdraw at the last minute was really disappointing.”

After that setback and once Hit the Road resumed training, Blacker plotted a new course.

“We prepped him for the San Gabriel (G2), which is a mile and an eighth at Santa Anita [Dec. 26], with the Pegasus in mind because that race was at a mile and an eighth, as well,” he said. “And then that race came off the turf and we had to scratch out of that race. So, we're just coming in here. It's a bit of an unknown, but the horse is training really well.”

Hit the Road has a long series of breezes on his work tab, most recently going five furlongs in 58.40 seconds over the Santa Anita turf Jan. 16.

“Everything needs to go perfect, really,” Blacker said. “It's a lot of tests that he has to pass in order to make the trip. It's a long trip, it's very expensive and I don't want to take him unless he's ready to fire his absolute 'A' game. Hopefully we'll be able to do it. But it's up to the horse. We'll just have to see over the next two weeks. Right now, he's doing great and I'm really happy with him.”

Thanks to the unforeseen combo of the minor illness and then rain in December in Southern California, the Pegasus Turf will be Hit the Road's first start since he finished third by a half-length in a troubled trip in the City of Hope Mile (G2) Oct. 2 at Santa Anita. The City of Hope was his 11th consecutive race at one mile.

“He runs really well fresh, so I'm not worried about the fitness,” Blacker said. “I'm more concerned about the distance. You just never know. I think he will be able to run at a mile and an eighth, but the question is: Is he as good at a mile and eighth as at a mile? And when you're running in Grade 1s, you've got to bring your 'A' game.

“It's a lot of money, this race. We were fortunate to be invited and grateful to the Stronach Group for inviting us,” he added. “It just depends on the horse, how he works over the next two weeks. Hopefully everything runs smoothly [and] we can take a shot.”

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Hit The Road Gets An Extra Eighth In Sunday’s San Gabriel Stakes

Trainer Dan Blacker's Grade 1-winning Hit the Road figures prominently in Sunday's G2, $200,000 San Gabriel Stakes as a field of seven 3-year-olds and up go a mile and one eighth on turf. The San Gabriel, one of six graded stakes on an 11-race Opening Day card, will be run for the 74th time. Special early first post time on Sunday is at 11 a.m., with admission gates opening at 9 a.m.

A winner of Santa Anita's G1 Frank E. Kilroe Mile four starts back on March 6, Hit the Road, a 4-year-old colt by More Than Ready, has been winless since, but he comes off a pair of close third place finishes in graded stakes competition, most recently the G2 City of Hope Mile (turf) here on Oct. 2, in which he was beaten a half length.

Owned by D K Racing, LLC and Radley Equine, Inc., Taste of Victory Stables, Rick Gold, Tony Maslowski and Dave Odmark, Hit the Road, a four-time stakes winner, has run in 11 consecutive one mile turf races and will be trying a mile and one eighth for the first time.

Ridden by midwestern-based Florent Geroux in his last four starts, Hit the Road will be reunited with Umberto Rispoli, who is a perfect three for three with him. With an overall mark of 12-6-0-2, Hit the Road has earnings of $563,751.

Trainer Michael McCarthy's Friar's Road will also be trying a mile and one eighth on turf for the first time, but he'll be shortening up from a solid third place finish going a mile and one half in the G2 Hollywood Turf Cup at Del Mar Nov. 26. Third, beaten a head two starts back going a mile and one quarter in Santa Anita's G2 John Henry Turf Championship Oct. 2, this 4-year-old colt by Quality Road will be seeking his first stakes victory on Sunday.

Originally based at Golden Gate Fields with trainer Quinn Howey, California-bred Indian Peak closed much ground to finish third, beaten three quarters of a length going a mile and one sixteenth on grass in the G2 Seabiscuit Handicap at Del Mar Nov. 27 and should appreciate the added distance of the San Gabriel.

A winner versus statebreds going a mile and one eighth over the course in the Snow Chief Stakes 12 starts back on June 20, 2020, this 4-year-old Comic Strip gelding has proven to be versatile and appears to be at the top of his game. Trained by Peter Miller in his last four starts, he'll be saddled by Ruben Alvarado on Sunday and be ridden back by Juan Hernandez.

THE GRADE 2 SAN GABRIEL WITH JOCKEYS & WEIGHTS IN POST POSITION ORDER

Race 5 of 11 Approximate post time 1 p.m. PT

  1. Indian Peak—Juan Hernandez—121
  2. Friar's Road—Jose Ortiz—121
  3. Bob and Jackie—Jose Valdivia, Jr.—121
  4. Hit the Road—Umberto Rispoli—123
  5. Majestic Eagle—John Velazquez—121
  6. Red Storm Risen—Flavien Prat—121
  7. Ready Soul—Kent Desormeaux–121

First post time for an 11-race card on Opening Day is at 11 a.m. and admission gates will open at 9 a.m.

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‘Really Good Horse’ Hit The Road Ships East For Friday’s Maker’s Mark Mile

In 2013, in his second year of training on his own, Dan Blacker saddled four runners during Keeneland's Spring Meet.

“I didn't have the right horses then,” the 39-year-old Blacker said Thursday, the morning after he arrived here with what would qualify as a “right horse” in Hit the Road. The Grade 1 winner looms as one of the favorites for Friday's 33rd running of the $300,000 Maker's Mark Mile (G1).

Owned by the partnership of D K Racing, Radley Equine, Taste of Victory Stables, Rick Gold, Tony Maslowski and Dave Odmark, Hit the Road galloped on the main track Thursday.

A Keeneland sales graduate, Hit the Road brings a four-race win streak into the Maker's Mark Mile. That skein includes a victory in the Thunder Road (G3), which gave Blacker his first graded stakes triumph, and a narrow win in the Frank Kilroe Mile (G1) for Blacker's initial Grade 1 tally.

“He's a really good horse. He's a Grade 1 winner and there is not much better than that,” Blacker said.

The Maker's Mark Mile represents the first venture outside California for Hit the Road.

“A couple things I am looking for is to see how he handles the ship, and I am doing my anti-rain dance,” Blacker said. “I would prefer for it to be firm (turf) tomorrow.”

Heavy rain is forecast for Lexington beginning Thursday afternoon and going until midnight.

Blacker said Hit the Road likely would return to his home base at Santa Anita following Friday's race and he would not consider the $1 million Old Forester Turf Classic (G1) at 1 1/8 miles May 1 at Churchill Downs.

“My gut feeling is that he is a miler,” Blacker said. “Most likely we'd wait for the ($500,000) Shoemaker Mile (G1) on Memorial Day (May 25). If I did (run him) a mile and eighth, it would be at Santa Anita.”

Florent Geroux, who was aboard for the victory in the Kilroe, has the mount Friday.

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