Closing relentlessly after a slow start, Hill Road (Quality Road) ran down the Rick Dutrow Jr. pair on the lead to win the GIII Peter Pan Stakes and stamp his ticket for a date with the final jewel of the Triple Crown in June.
First profiled by our colleagues in TDN Europe after a sparkling debut in Ireland for trainer Adrian Murray last year, which snagged him 'TDN Rising Star' honors, the connections stepped him up into elite company in mid-September when his next start came in the G1 Vincent O'Brien National Stakes at the Curragh. While it wasn't his day, he would finish seventh behind a salty field which included the likes of 'TDN Rising Star' GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf winner Henri Matisse (Ire) (Wootton Bassett {GB}); G1SW-Ire Scorthy Champ (Ire) (Mehmas {Ire}); G1SP-Ire Seagulls Eleven (Ire) (Galileo Gold {GB}); and GSW-HK & GISP Aomori City (Fr) (Oasis Dream {Ire}). In his first start on the dirt track in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile, he put forward a strong rally to snag third behind champion juvenile, 'Rising Star' MGISW Citizen Bull (Into Mischief) and GISW Gaming (Game Winner).
With those efforts under his belt, he was moved to the barn of Chad Brown for a 2025 campaign and ran a credible third in his first jump for the operation in the GIII Tampa Bay Derby behind Owen Almighty (Speightstown)–who recently ran fifth in the GI Kentucky Derby–and 'TDN Rising Star' MGISW Chancer McPatrick (McKinzie). He finished ahead of 'Rising Star' Patch Adams (Into Mischief) in that race, who decisively won an allowance on the Derby undercard, and GISP Filoso (City of Light).
Made the 2-1 second choice here, Hill Road wasn't the fastest off the blocks and was outkicked early by the speed to his outside. Captain Cook was intent on the lead and so he got it, rolling through :23.36, :47.26, and 1:11.57 splits as McAfee (Cloud Computing) eventually overtook Vassimo (Nyquist) to stalk him from second. Not in any rush to join the fray, Hill Road watched it all unfold near the rear of the field going up the backstretch and was asked to improve his position through the far bend. Four wide and with a full head of steam entering the lane, he set his sights on McAfee and Captain Cook as those two were locked in battle entering the final furlong. Up in time, Hill Road overhauled Thorpedo Anna's little brother for the win by three-quarters of a length as that one finally got the best of Captain Cook, who had to settle for third.
“I was concerned about the pace on paper, but a little bit of pace developed, and the horse ran great,” said Chad Brown. “He wasn't out the back; he had a few horses beat early and then down the backside he seemed pretty tractable. He made a middle move and kind of moved up into a tight spot and paused and then came again.”
“I know he didn't switch leads, so we have some work to do there. Flavien [Prat] had him running fairly straight the last part of the race, so that was good. It's something we can work with, and he [Prat] said it's something we can work on and isn't a big deal.”
When asked about a start in the final jewel of the Triple Crown, the GI Belmont Stakes June 7, Brown said, “Absolutely. This horse really wants to go a mile and a quarter–we felt that after the Tampa race [3rd, GII Tampa Bay Derby]. Tyler Gaffalione rode him and was quite excited about the horse in the days after, checking in on him because he considered [Hill Road] as one of his Derby mounts and he wasn't quite sure who he wanted to go with. He was considering coming to the Wood, that's how much Tyler thought of him.”
Trainer Rick Dutrow Jr. was pleased with his duo but did believe that he had some figuring out to do with Captain Cook while his other runner, McAfee, put in a huge effort.
“They both ran big. There wasn't much other speed in the race, our horse [No. 8, Captain Cook] broke good and he was right there. Manny [Franco] could have sat off Irad [Ortiz, Jr., aboard No. 1, Vassimo] on the inside but I don't know that the outcome would have been any different.”
“I can't complain about anything with the race. It looks like Captain Cook doesn't want to go quite this far with the better ones and McAfee ran huge. We need to find Captain Cook's best game. I'm not saying this might not be it at the end of the day, but he ran big.”
Hill Road returns to the winner's circle in the G3 Peter Pan at Aqueduct under Flavien Prat for trainer Chad Brown! 💪 pic.twitter.com/10e63EZrRv
— TwinSpires Racing 🏇 (@TwinSpires) May 10, 2025
Pedigree Notes:
Hill Road is the first winner for his dam–an Argentinian-campaigned, stakes-placed half-sister to MGISW City of Light (Quality Road). Exotic Notion has had back-to-back colts by Uncle Mo since this winner, a juvenile and a yearling, and is due to Practical Joke for 2025.
In addition to her supremely talented brother, who has become a strong sire in his second career, the dam is also a half-sister to Lough Derg (Lemon Drop Kid), who claims GSP Liam's Journey (Liam's Map) to her credit. This is the immediate family of GISW Fabulously Fast (Deputy Minister), who produced French stakes-placed Humungosaur (GB) (Red Ransom), and her half-sister Paris Rose (Accelerator), the dam of GSW Decelerator (Dehere). Through that daughter, she's the granddam of GSW Stoltz (Aus) (More Than Ready) and MGSW & MG1SP-SAf Nafaayes (Aus) (Exceed And Excel {Aus}). Her line also yielded 2024 Australian Group-placed Hedged (Aus) (Capitalist {Aus}).
Saturday, Belmont At The Big A
PETER PAN S.-GIII, $200,000, Belmont The Big A, 5-10, 3yo, 1 1/8m, 1:49.22, ft.
1–HILL ROAD, 118, c, 3, by Quality Road
1st Dam: Exotic Notion (SP-Arg), by Lemon Drop Kid
2nd Dam: Paris Notion, by Dehere
3rd Dam: Fabulous Notion, by Somethingfabulous
'TDN Rising Star'. 1ST BLACK TYPE WIN, 1ST GRADED STAKES WIN. ($350,000 Ylg '23 KEESEP). O-Amo Racing USA; B-Lynch Bages LTD & Camas Park Stud (KY); T-Chad C. Brown; J-Flavien Prat. $110,000. Lifetime Record: 5-2-0-2, $336,496. Werk Nick Rating: A. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–McAfee, 118, c, 3, Cloud Computing–Sataves, by Uncle Mo. 1ST BLACK TYPE, 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. ($40,000 Ylg '23 KEESEP). O-Black Type Thoroughbreds, Swinbank Stables LLC, Judy B. Hicks and Scott C. Rice; B-Judy Hicks (KY); T-Richard E. Dutrow, Jr. $40,000.
3–Captain Cook, 120, c, 3, Practical Joke–Pow Wow Wow, by Indian Charlie. 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE. ($410,000 2yo '24 KEENOV). O-St. Elias Stable; B-Marylou Whitney Stables, LLC (KY); T-Richard E. Dutrow, Jr. $24,000.
Margins: 3/4, HF, 2HF. Odds: 2.05, 7.70, 1.45.
Also Ran: Surfside Moon, Vassimo, Uncaged, Happily Delusional, Brereton's Baytown, First Pitch. Scratched: Lordship.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
