Hit the Road will do just that for Maker's Mark Mile

ARCADIA, Calif. – Hit the Road won his first Grade 1 in the $400,000 Frank Kilroe Mile at Santa Anita on March 6 for his fourth career stakes win, all in Southern California.

The 4-year-old colt may race outside of the state for the first time in the Grade 1 Maker’s Mark Mile on turf at Keeneland on April 9.

Trainer Dan Blacker said on Sunday that he is finalizing a spring plan for Hit the Road, a winner of three consecutive stakes. The Grade 1 Shoemaker Mile on turf at Santa Anita on May 31 is a long-range goal.

Hit the Road worked a half-mile in 50 seconds on the infield training track at Santa Anita on Saturday, his first major exercise since the Kilroe Mile.

“He seems like he’s come out of the race in great shape,” Blacker said on Sunday. “Nothing is set yet. We’re looking at Keeneland. It depends on his energy.

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“He worked really well.”

Hit the Road has won 6 of 9 starts and earned $494,751. The winning streak includes the Oceanside Stakes at Del Mar last July and the Grade 3 Thunder Road Stakes at a mile on turf here on Feb. 6.

In the Kilroe, Hit the Road rallied on the rail to finish a neck in front of the multiple stakes winner Smooth Like Strait. Trainer Michael McCarthy said on Sunday that he has not selected a next race for Smooth Like Strait, and that the $300,000 Maker’s Mark Mile is under consideration.

Count Again, a fast-closing third by a half-length in the Kilroe, will start in the Grade 1 Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic at Churchill Downs on May 1, trainer Phil D’Amato said. The $1 million Turf Classic is run at 1 1/8 miles.