Hit the Road scratched from Breeders' Cup Mile
DEL MAR, Calif. – Hit the Road will be scratched from the Breeders’ Cup Mile on Saturday after spiking a temperature, his trainer, Dan Blacker, said Friday morning.
Hit the Road, 15-1 on the Mile morning line, was discovered to have an elevated temperature at a most inopportune moment.
“It looks like its just probably a virus,” said Blacker. “That’s horse racing. It’s just unbelievably bad timing. I don’t think he’s ever had a fever in his life and to get it on top of the race is disappointing. I felt really good coming into this race; I know it’s a cliché, but his last two works were some of his best ever. He was training so well I just genuinely think he could have won it. Disappointed for the horse and the owners.”
Hit the Road, a 4-year-old colt, won the Grade 1 Kilroe Mile in March and most recently finished third, beaten less than a length by victorious Mo Forza, after enduring a troubled trip Oct. 2 in the City of Hope Mile. Blacker expects the minor illness to quickly resolve, but having been aiming at the Mile has nothing close to concrete plans for Hit the Road. “Hopefully we can get back to this next year,” he said.
Hit the Road’s defection validates the decision of Real Appeal’s connections to ship the 4-year-old gelding from Ireland. Real Appeal had been stuck on the also-eligible list but now will get to run, breaking from post 14, with all the entrants drawn outside Hit the Road, who had post 8, moving in one slot.