hit the road | Horse Racing Free Tips

Kilroe Winner Hits the Road for First Time in Maker’s Mark Mile

The winner of four straight races and six of nine overall, including a first-ever Grade I triumph for his trainer last out, progressive Hit the Road (More Than Ready) will travel outside of California for the first time in his career to face eight rivals in a competitive renewal of the GI Maker's Mark Mile Friday at Keeneland.

Capturing his first two turf tries, the latter coming in the Zuma Beach S., as a 2-year-old, the bay ran seventh before being disqualified to last in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf and was fourth in the GIII Cecil B. DeMille S. That's the last time Hit the Road has tasted defeat, as he followed up a Santa Anita allowance score last spring with a tally in the restricted Oceanside S. July 10 at Del Mar. Given the rest of his sophomore campaign off, he's come back better than ever, dominating the GIII Thunder Road S. by 3 3/4 lengths and squeezing through a narrow opening to take the GI Frank E. Kilroe Mile S. to give conditioner Dan Blacker a career high Mar. 6 at Santa Anita.

Given the narrow nod at 7-2 on the morning line is the lone other Grade I winner in the field, Peter Brant's Raging Bull (Fr) (Dark Angel {Ire}). Rallying to a victory in the GI Hollywood Derby in December of 2018, the now 6-year-old has had a difficult time finding the winning thread since then, scoring just once in his subsequent 10 tries, albeit at the highest level in last spring's GI Shoemaker Mile S. at Santa Anita. The Chad Brown trainee ran a close third in this event last year and was runner-up in the GI Shadwell Turf Mile S. here in the fall before running 10th in the GI FanDuel Breeders' Cup Mile.

Lightly-raced Darain (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}) intrigues as he takes a steep class hike. Starting his career two-for-two last summer in his native land for John Gosden, he failed to hit the board in the G2 Sky Bet Great Voltigeur S. or G3 Darley S., but was a narrow second and registered a sharp allowance score in two tries for Brad Cox this winter at Fair Grounds. Somelikeithotbrown (Big Brown) also commands respect, as his twin 105 Beyers from his runner-up finish in Pimlico's GII Dinner Party S. and victory in the New York-bred Mohawk S. last fall are tied with Raging Bull's Shoemaker figure for field best.

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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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TVG’s Christina Blacker Joins Writers’ Room

With active hands-on experience in two arenas in racing–television and presentation as well as horsemanship–Christina Blacker is one of a handful of people in the industry with that variety of perspective. Tuesday morning, the TVG reporter, analyst and host joined the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland for an expansive discussion on growing the sport. Calling in via Zoom as the Green Group Guest of the Week, Blacker also talked about the triumph of her husband Dan's recent first Grade I winner as a trainer and her I Am Horse Racing initiative.

Reflecting on the top-level success of the Blacker barn's Hit the Road (More Than Ready) in the GI Frank E. Kilroe Mile S., Blacker said, “The challenging thing about training is that you can put in all the time, the blood, sweat and tears, but until you have a horse that really has some ability, I don't feel like a lot of trainers get the chance to show what they can do. I've always believed that Dan would be playing at this level, and that he had the horsemanship skills and the background and was putting in the effort and hard work to deserve this kind of success. But until a horse of this ability came along, he hasn't had the opportunity to show people how he can train and manage a good horse. I think one of the things I'm most proud of with the way Dan has campaigned [Hit the Road] is he pulled back and was patient when he needed to. Now I think you're really seeing that patience pay off. Hopefully his trajectory will continue to improve.”

Asked about the I Am Horse Racing project to educate the public about the sport's people and their care for horses, Blacker said, “The idea for it came from a group of women who are interested and all have investments in the game. We felt that a couple of years ago when the safety issues were so prevalent at Santa Anita, there was so much coverage, and in those reports was a real implication that people in horse racing don't love horses, don't care about horses, aren't treating these horses with the respect that they deserve. So we wanted to try to put something forward that was educational that was out there to say, 'We recognize that there's a problem, that safety needs to be addressed, but look at these thousands of people across the country who are dedicated to these horses.' We wanted people to know that from the top to the bottom, there are people invested in this game because their core passion is the animal.”

Elsewhere on the show, in the West Point Thoroughbreds news segment, hosts Joe Bianca, Bill Finley and Kelsey Riley criticized the lawsuit filed by some horsemen's groups to stop HISA and debated what its implications may be. Click here to watch the podcast; click here for the audio-only version.

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Hit The Road Finds Room Late, Takes Kilroe Mile For Blacker’s First Grade 1

In a thrilling head and head battle to the wire, trainer Dan Blacker's Hit the Road prevailed by a neck over 5-2 favorite Smooth Like Strait, in Saturday's $400,000 Frank E. Kilroe Mile at Santa Anita, providing Blacker, 38, with his first Grade 1 triumph. Ridden for the first time by eastern-based Florent Geroux, Hit the Road, 4-year-old colt by More Than Ready, out of the U S Ranger mare Highway Mary, got the mile on grass in 1:34.48.

With longshot Flying Scotsman hustled from his outside post, Smooth Like Strait fell into a stalking trip second, while Hit the Road was at joint third at the rail with Casa Creed to his outside and about three lengths off the lead heading into the far turn.

Leaving the quarter pole, Smooth Like Strait, under Umberto Rispoli, assumed command while Hit the Road was forced to wait for racing room behind a three-horse spread that included Smooth Like Strait, Flying Scotsman and Casa Creed. Full of run, Geroux found a seam two from the rail a furlong out and from there, it was game-on between Hit the Road and the runner-up.

“I was pretty anxious, but I thought if he can get through, he's got a good chance,” said Blacker in recanting the final quarter mile. “Luckily 'Flo' found a gap and he proved he's the best today. I gave myself 10 years to win a Grade I and luckily we got it done in year nine. I don't want to make this all about me. It's all about the horse, he's such a professional animal, he is a true racehorse. He was born that way, he's just a true athlete and so mentally focused on racing.”

With Rispoli opting to stay with multiple graded winner Smooth Like Strait over recent G3 Thunder Road Stakes winner Hit the Road, Geroux was more than happy to take the Kilroe call and Hit the Road was off at 4-1, returning $10.40, $5.40 and $4.20.

“The trip made the difference, we got very lucky with the trip,” said Geroux. “It opened up at the right time and the horse got the job done. It was all heart. Sometimes when you have to go through a tight spot, the horse doesn't necessarily cooperate, but he did great and did everything I asked him to … I liked my horse and the one horse (Smooth Like Strait), and I thought it was going to be very tough between those two. I was able to follow him all the way around and got through on the inside.”

Owned by D K Racing, LLC, Radley Equine, Inc., Taste of Victory Stables, Rick Gold, Tony Maslowski and Dave Odmark, Hit the Road, in taking his first Grade I stakes, improved his overall mark to 9-6-0-0 and with the winner's share of $240,000, increased his earnings to $494,751.

In a huge effort, Smooth Like Strait, who finished a neck better than a flying Count Again, paid $4.40 and $3.40.

Ridden by Juan Hernandez, Count Again rallied from far back and paid $6.60 while off at 16-1.

Fractions on the race were 23.17, 47.32, 1:11.28 and 1:22.91.

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