The Southern California-based Hit the Road could do that in just about a week, scheduled to travel to Florida to the $1 million Pegasus World Cup Turf Invitational (G1T) at Gulfstream Park Jan. 29.
Owned by D K Racing, Radley Equine, Taste of Victory Stables, Rick Gold, Tony Maslowski, and Dave Odmark, Hit the Road gave trainer Dan Blacker, 39, the first grade 1 win of his career with his neck victory in the Frank E. Kilroe Mile Stakes (G1T) at Santa Anita Park last spring. His connections later aimed him for the FanDuel Breeders' Cup Mile Presented by PDJF (G1T) at Del Mar, but a fever knocked him out of the race.
Then a scheduled start this year in the Dec. 26 San Gabriel Stakes (G3) was scrapped when rainy weather moved it to the main track. As a result, he is unraced since finishing third in the City of Hope Mile (G2T) Oct. 2 at Santa Anita.
"So, we're just coming in here. It's a bit of an unknown, but the horse is training really well," Blacker said.
Hit the Road has a long series of breezes on his work tab, most recently going five furlongs in :58 2/5 over the Santa Anita turf Jan. 16.
"Everything needs to go perfect, really," Blacker added before he clears the More Than Ready horse for the trip.
