Hill Road

SARATIOGA SPRINGS--One thing trainer Michael McCarthy didn't have to worry about as he planned his trip to Saratoga Race Course was lodging. For his horses, anyway. When McCarthy shipped GI Belmont Stakes favorite Journalism (Curlin) and two other stakes horses to the Spa, he knew right where they were going. That would be the barn of Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher, whom McCarthy worked for as an assistant for nearly 12 years before going out on his own in 2014. "I was a slow learner," McCarthy said with a...

Kentucky Derby hero Sovereignty (Into Mischief) was out over Saratoga's Oklahoma training track Saturday morning as his preparations for the GI Belmont Stakes continued while a fleet of Grade I hopefuls also put in their works for respective contests. Putting in his second move since winning the nation's top prize for sophomores in early May, the Godolphin homebred went in company with fellow Grade I-winner Arthur's Ride (Tapit)--the pair clocking five panels in 1:02.54 (4/5) and 1:02.94 (5/5), respectively. Sovereignty started two lengths behind the grey and to his outside....

While no immediate plans for the GI Belmont Stakes have been made for Saturday's sensational Preakness 150 hero Journalism (Curlin), connections report that when their colt leaves the Pimlico grounds in a couple days, he will either go directly to Saratoga or to Michael McCarthy's Kentucky base at Churchill Downs. With the son of Curlin under consideration for the GI Belmont Stakes June 7 at Saratoga, McCarthy and Eclipse Thoroughbreds' Aron Wellman spoke to the press Sunday morning and said the decision will be made in the next day or...

It's not just the horses that are called upon. Horsemen, too, must measure up to the challenges of our sport. To many, that now means rescheduling the Triple Crown series. To some of us, however, it means the very opposite. Our community was similarly divided in 2023 by the loss of two horses easing to Grade I success, right in front of the Saratoga grandstand. That trauma prompted many to demand that all dirt tracks be dug up. Others, however, urged persevering with the ancestral core of American racing so...

Amo Racing's Hill Road (Quality Road) may have earned himself a tilt at the June 7 GI Belmont Stakes with his win in the GIII Peter Pan Stakes at Aqueduct Saturday. "He bounced out of the Peter Pan in good shape," trainer Chad Brown said Sunday. "Hopefully once we get him back under tack and he's healthy and good, we will go onto the Belmont." A debut winner at Leopardstown last August, Hill Road was third behind champion Citizen Bull (Into Mischief) in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Del...

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...

A competitive group of 3-year-olds have signed on for Saturday's GIII Peter Pan Stakes, headlining a quartet of graded stakes at the Big A Saturday. Attempting to rebound off a last-out fourth as the favorite in the GII Wood Memorial Stakes in April, St Elias Stable's 'TDN Rising Star' Captain Cook (Practical Joke) will try to revert to the form that saw him win a pair of tests at the New York oval. Sixth going six panels at Churchill in his career debut for Norm Casse last October, the bay...

Rodeo Creek Racing's GIII Gazelle-winner Ballerina d'Oro worked a half-mile on Saturday over the Belmont Park training track in preparation for the GI Kentucky Oaks, NYRA said in Saturday press release. Trained by Chad Brown, the daughter of Medaglia d'Oro breezed under jockey Dylan Davis and was caught by NYRA clockers covering the distance in 48 seconds flat outside of 'TDN Rising Star' & GISP Hill Road (Quality Road), who the conditioner said is pointing to the GIII Peter Pan Stakes during the Belmont at the Big A meet May...

After running too good to lose when going down to a narrow defeat at the hands of John Hancock (Constitution) in the Sam F. Davis Stakes when last seen, Flying Dutchmen Breeding & Racing's Owen Almighty (Speightstown) was kicked straight into the lead from his rail draw in Saturday's GIII Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby, controlled the pace through even sectional times and ran away from his half-dozen rivals in the final furlong to earn 50 points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby. But it may be a different...

Chad Brown will have a pair of chancers, err, chances, to repeat in Saturday's GIII Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby. 'TDN Rising Star' Chancer McPatrick (McKinzie), a sensational, come-from-behind winner of last year's GI Hopeful Stakes and GI Champagne Stakes, will kick off his sophomore campaign in the 1 1/16-mile Tampa Bay Downs centerpiece, good for 105 points (50-25-15-10-5) on the road to the GI Kentucky Derby. The Flanagan Racing colorbearer suffered his first career defeat finishing a disappointing sixth at a well-backed 2-1 while making his two-turn debut in...

DEL MAR, CA - Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert had three chances at a record-extending sixth winner of the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Del Mar Friday. And none of them were favored. Let go at odds of 15-1, Citizen Bull (Into Mischief) made every pole a winning one while leading home a one-two-four finish for Baffert's powerhouse stable. It was 1 1/2 lengths back to Gaming (Game Winner) in second. Irish raider Hill Road (Quality Road) rallied from last of 10 to tag 'TDN Rising Star' Getaway Car...

Last year's renewal of Leopardstown's Irish Stallion Farms EBF Maiden was garnered by subsequent G3 Gallinule Stakes victor Chief Little Rock (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) and Thursday's latest edition witnessed the 'TDN Rising Star' performance of Adrian Murray trainee and G1 Vincent O'Brien National Stakes entry Hill Road (Quality Road--Exotic Notion, by Lemon Drop Kid). Hill Road, a $350,000 Keeneland September yearling who registered a May 27 Naas barrier-trial 'win' between missed engagements at the Curragh in May and June, broke well and raced in a handy third after the initial...