Hit the Road (More Than Ready), winner of the prestigious GI Frank E. Kilroe Mile at Santa Anita last March, has been given some time off following an eighth in the GI Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational at Gulfstream Park Jan. 26.
“He's at Kingfisher [Farms] in Solvang [in the Santa Ynez Valley] and he'll be back in the summer,” confirmed trainer Dan Blacker.
“To win Grade I's you have to have a horse 100 % and he wasn't quite 100 % [at Gulfstream],” Blacker said. “He'll have a couple months off and, hopefully, there's a chance he could be ready for a race like the [GII] Del Mar Mile if everything goes smoothly,” Blacker said.
The 5-year-old also won last season's GIII Thunder Road S. at Santa Anita.
“There's a notion that he doesn't ship well [the Pegasus was only his second start outside of Southern California in 13 career races), but I know him very well and he's very smart, very intelligent, and he shipped very well to Florida,” he continued. “There were other reasons he didn't run his best and we're going to hopefully take care of them…but it wasn't just the shipping…We'll be patient and, hopefully, have him back at his best this summer.”
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