Hit the Road squeezes through tight spot en route to neck victory in Kilroe Mile

ARCADIA, Calif. - Hit the Road had a new rider, but the same result as in recent races in Saturday’s Grade 1 Frank Kilroe Mile at Santa Anita.

Hit the Road rallied through the stretch to win his third consecutive turf stakes.

Florent Geroux rode Hit the Road for the first time, replacing Umberto Rispoli who chose to ride another local stakes winner in Smooth Like Strait. Geroux guided Hit the Road past Smooth Like Strait in the final furlong to win the $402,500 Kilroe by a neck in a thrilling finish.

Geroux kept Hit the Road on the rail and had sufficient running room through the final quarter-mile.

“Sometimes, you’re the champ and sometimes you’re the worst,” Geroux said of the tactic.

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Hit the Road ($10.40) was timed in 1:34.48, and gave trainer Dan Blacker his first win in a Grade 1 race. Hit the Road got a 97 Beyer Speed Figure.

Flying Scotsman, one of six shippers from Florida in a field of 10, set a pace of 23.17 seconds for the opening quarter-mile and 47.32 for a half-mile, leading by as many as two lengths over the well-placed Smooth Like Strait, the 5-2 favorite.

Smooth Like Strait took the lead in early stretch and had a half-length advantage over Flavius with a furlong remaining. Flavius made a wide rally and posed a brief threat in the stretch.

Geroux had Hit the Road in fourth-place for the first six furlongs, and focused on following Smooth Like Strait through the final quarter-mile.

“I had one horse as a target and I thought he was the horse to beat,” Geroux said. “I followed Umberto like a shadow. My horse was very brave. He went in that tight spot and cooperated.”

Smooth Like Strait finished a neck in front of a fast-closing Count Again, who was ninth with a furlong remaining. Smooth Like Strait won the Grade 2 Mathis Brothers Mile for 3-year-olds on turf here on Dec. 26 for his fourth stakes win of 2020.

The Kilroe Mile, the richest turf race of the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting, was Smooth Like Strait’s first start of 2021.

“He ran super and did everything right but win,” trainer Michael McCarthy said.

Flavius finished fourth for trainer Chad Brown, the best result of the Florida shippers.

Royal Ship finished fifth, followed by Casa Creed, Ride a Comet, Spirit Animal, Flying Scotsman, and Social Paranoia. The last five finishers were from Florida.

Hit the Road, a colt by More Than Ready, races for the partnership of D K Racing, Radley Equine, Taste of Victory Stables, Rick Gold, Tony Maslowski, and David Odmark.

Hit the Road has won 6 of 9 starts and earned $494,751. Hit the Road has won his last four starts, including an allowance race in his 2020 debut last May and the restricted Oceanside Stakes at Del Ma last July, his final start of that season.