Belmont is next for Hill Road after rallying to win Peter Pan

Hill Road earned his first graded-stakes victory with a well-timed ride from Flavien Prat in Saturday’s Grade 3, $200,000 Peter Pan Stakes, a 1 1/8-mile route for nine 3-year-olds at Belmont at the Big A.

The Peter Pan is the traditional prep for the $2 million Belmont Stakes, which will be contested at 1 1/4 miles at Saratoga on June 7. NYRA will waive the entry and starting fees to the Belmont Stakes, excluding the supplemental fee, for the first three finishers in the Peter Pan.

Click here for Belmont at Aqueduct entries and results.

Trained by five-time Eclipse Award-winner Chad Brown, the son of Quality Road improved from a pair of thirds in his two previous stateside outings, finishing 4 3/4 lengths behind Citizen Bull in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile in November at Del Mar for trainer Adrian Murray. That was before he was transferred to Brown. He finished 6 1/4 lengths behind Owen Almighty in the Grade 3 Tampa Bay Derby on March 8. He made his first two career starts in Ireland for Murray, including a debut graduation going one mile on the Leopardstown turf in August.

Hill Road was targeted for the Wood Memorial (G2) on April 5 at Aqueduct, but he missed the race because of a fever.

“He had that unfortunate temperature before the Wood that knocked him off the (Kentucky) Derby trail, and I just want give all the credit to the horse,” Brown said. “He's a very durable horse, and he came to me in great shape. The owner Kia (Joorabchian of AMO Racing USA), he really trusted me with taking this route to the Belmont rather than trying to go to the Preakness. I felt comfortable prepping him, and after a bit of a layoff to give him a race, that’s not so hard as to go to the Preakness. But to use this as a prep race to get to the mile-and-a-quarter, which is what he really wants. That was the disappointing thing about missing the Derby is that he’s a true mile-and-a-quarter horse. That’s past us now, so we have to move forward, and hopefully he’s a fresh horse for the Belmont.”

Hill Road found the winner’s circle again with an off-the-pace trip engineered by Prat, who rode the colt for the first time in the afternoon from post 4 and settled him along the rail in eighth early. Hard-sent favorite Captain Cook skipped to the front under Manny Franco and crossed over to the two path from post 8 heading into the first turn to mark the opening quarter-mile in 23.36 seconds over the fast footing.

“He doesn’t have much early speed, but then he was traveling good,” Prat said. “We improved some positions down the backside. Then I went around. Once I got him outside, he made a good run.”

Rick Dutrow-trained Captain Cook held a strong lead into the backstretch with sharp-starting Vassimo tracking in second and McAfee, Dutrow’s other entrant, stalking in third with a gap back to the rest of the field. The order remained unchanged as Captain Cook reached the half-mile in 47.26 seconds, but the pacesetter came under threat from his stablemate rounding the turn. McAfee ranged up on the outside, and Vassimo already was being asked for his best.

Franco shook the reins, and Captain Cook dug in through three-quarters of a mile in 1:11.57. Prat angled Hill Road out to begin rolling down the center of the course with dead aim on the embattled top pair as they straightened for home. Stubborn Captain Cook battled back inside the eighth pole before McAfee edged clear of his stablemate, but Hill Road’s momentum would not be denied in the final strides. He rolled past the Dutrow trainees to score by three-quarter lengths with a final time of 1:49.22.

McAfee was a half-length better than Captain Cook for second. Surfside Moon, who experienced traffic issues early, completing the superfecta. Vassimo, Uncaged, Happily Delusional, Brereton’s Baytown and First Pitch rounded out the finish in that order. Brown-trained Lordship, who finished fourth in Saturday’s Long Branch at Monmouth Park, was scratched.

Brown said the effort was a promising step forward for Hill Road, who showed some greenness in the stretch.

“I know he didn’t switch leads, so we have some work to do there,” Brown said. “Flavien had him running fairly straight the last part of the race, so that was good. It’s something we can work with, and (Prat) said it’s something we can work on and isn’t a big deal.”

Brown, who is searching for his first win in the Belmont Stakes, added Hill Road “absolutely” will target the final jewel of the Triple Crown after Saturday’s performance.

“This horse really wants to go a mile-and-a-quarter. We felt that after the Tampa race,” Brown said of the Tampa Bay Derby effort where he equipped Hill Road with blinkers. “Tyler Gaffalione rode him and was quite excited about the horse in the days after checking in on him, because he considered him 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.”

Bred in Kentucky by Lynch Bages and Camas Park Stud, Hill Road was a $350,000 purchase at the 2023 Keeneland September yearling sale and is out of winning Lemon Drop Kid mare Exotic Notion, a half-sister to multiple graded-stakes-winning multimillionaire and top sire City of Light. Hill Road banked $110,000. 

Hill Road returned $6.10, $3.70 and $2.40; McAfee $5.70 and $2.90; and Captain Cook $2.20.