Hill Road relishes extra distance in Peter Pan

Distance figures to be Hill Road's friend as the season progresses as the three-year-old colt needed nearly every bit of the 1 1/8 miles of Saturday's $200,000 Peter Pan (G3) at Aqueduct in order to wear down McAfee in the final yards.

Stretching out to nine furlongs for the first time after back-to-back third-place efforts in a pair of 1 1/16-mile races, the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) and Tampa Bay Derby (G3), Hill Road had stamina on his side as he arrived in time to win by three-quarters of a length under Flavien Prat.

"I was concerned about the pace on paper, but a little bit of pace developed, and the horse ran great," said Chad Brown, who trains Hill Road for Amo Racing USA.

Hill Road covered one lap of Aqueduct's fast main track in 1:49.22. He returned $6.10 as the second choice in the wagering.

McAfee, who began to edge away from long-time leader and 1.45-1 favorite Captain Cook inside the eighth pole, finished a half-length ahead of the rival for second. Completing the order of finish were Surfside Moon, Vassimo, Uncaged, Happily Delusional, Brereton's Baytown, and First Pitch.

This was the first stakes win for Hill Road, who began his career on the turf last summer in Ireland, where he won a one-mile maiden by five lengths at the Curragh and then finished seventh in the Vincent O'Brien National (G1) over the same course. He then was imported back to the U.S. for the Breeders' Cup at Del Mar, where he finished 4 3/4 lengths adrift of Citizen Bull as a 61-1 chance.

Distantly placed to Owen Almighty in the Tampa Bay Derby in his season debut, Hill Road was an intended starter in last month's Wood Memorial (G2), but was withdrawn after spiking a temperature. That also ended his goals at qualifying for the Kentucky Derby (G1).

"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 (G1), but to use this as a prep race to get to the mile and a quarter which is what he really wants," Brown said. "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 ([G1] at Saratoga)."

A Kentucky-bred son of Quality Road, Hill Road was produced by Exotic Nation, a stakes-placed Lemon Drop Kid half-sister to multiple Grade 1 winner City of Light. He was bred by Lynch Bages and Camas Park Stud, and was a $350,000 Keeneland September yearling.