Hit the Road pointing to Frank Kilroe Mile next

The morning after Hit the Road won Saturday’s Grade 3 Thunder Road Stakes at Santa Anita, trainer Dan Blacker had yet to study the race replay.

“My phone has been blowing up,” Blacker said Sunday. “I haven’t had a chance.

“That’s one of the best parts of the Thoroughbred community. It’s a big family. It’s nice to hear from my friends from around the world.”

In his first start since July, Hit the Road cruised to an impressive win in the $100,500 Thunder Road at a mile on turf, drawing clear by 3 3/4 lengths in the final furlong.

Blacker said Hit the Road will be pointed to the Grade 1 Frank Kilroe Mile on turf March 6.

“That’s the next race we have penciled in,” Blacker said.

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Hit the Road won the restricted Oceanside Stakes at a mile on turf for 3-year-olds at Del Mar last July, but was sidelined for the remainder of the year after an injury surfaced.

“He had a mild issue,” Blacker said. “I felt like if I trained on, it could be a major issue. I want to race him when he’s 100 percent and not 90 percent.”

Hit the Road has won his last three starts, his only races since a fourth-place finish in the Grade 3 Cecil B. DeMille Stakes for 2-year-olds at Del Mar on Dec. 1, 2019. Blacker said Hit the Road was deliberately given a rest in early 2020 to prepare for what was expected to be a busy series of races in the second half last year.

“There weren’t that many options early in the year,” Blacker said. “He’d done so much as a 2-year-old that I thought, let’s give him time. We gave him time for the sake of giving him time.

“It’s really remarkable to have one as precocious as he was, mentally and physically, and to be so good and [getting] better and better is so rare.”

Jockey Umberto Rispoli has been aboard Hit the Road through the colt’s three-race winning streak, which began with a win in an allowance race at Santa Anita last May.

The win in the Thunder Road came at a cost for Rispoli, who was suspended three racing days by Santa Anita stewards on Sunday for using his whip once in the race in an overhanded position. Jockeys have been allowed to use their whips only in an underhanded position at California tracks since the first of October.

The suspension covers racing days on Feb. 14-15 and 19.

Rispoli may face a crucial decision in the buildup to the $400,000 Kilroe Mile. He is also the regular rider of Smooth Like Strait, who won the Grade 2 Mathis Brothers Mile for 3-year-olds on turf on Dec. 26, and is a candidate for the Kilroe.

“It’s better to have two horses,” Rispoli said in the winner’s circle after the Thunder Road.

Ellingwood wins first Santa Anita race

Apprentice jockey Emily Ellingwood won her first race at Santa Anita in Sunday’s third race on Honoring Major ($17.60).

Ellingwood, 26, has a background as an exercise rider in recent years for trainers such as Matt Chew, Ryan Hanson, and Tom Proctor. Ellingwood won her first career race at Los Alamitos in December.

Hanson trains Honoring Major, who prevailed in a $12,500 claimer at a mile after a stalking trip.

Honoring Major was Ellingwood’s 19th mount of the current meeting, which began on Dec. 26. A California native, Ellingwood has a background with show horses.