by T.J. Burkett, managing editor, Hoof Beats

Columbus, OH — Deo Volente Farm has purchased an interest in 2009 Peter Haughton Memorial winner Holiday Road, according to farm owner Mike Gulotta.

Mike Gulotta’s Deo Volente Farm has purchased an interest in Holiday Road.

Gulotta will join co-owners Patricia Bolte, Jerry Silva, Tom and Lou Pontone’s TLP Stable and trainer Greg Peck, who will continue to condition the 3-year-old. Gulotta said it is too early to speculate where — or even when — Holiday Road will begin stud duty.

“We’ll stand him wherever he’s going to do the best,” said Gulotta. “It’s really a function of how 2010 evolves for him. It’s also a function of whether the state of New Jersey will return to sanity.”

A son of Yankee Glide-Jambo and a full brother to 2004 Dan Patch Award winner Ken Warkentin, Holiday Road earned $312,350 in purses in six 2-year-old starts, and took his 1:54 mark in winning the Haughton at the Meadowlands.

“He’s already a stallion, because of his body and pedigree,” said Gulotta. “Now all he has to do to complete the trifecta is perform up to expectations on the racetrack at 3.”

Holiday Road’s ownership team may look familiar, as it is the same group (plus Bolte) that campaigned 2009 Horse of the Year Muscle Hill, who won 12 of 12 starts last year, including the Hambletonian in world-record time.

“He’s now part of what we call ‘Operation Hambletonian 2010,’” said Peck. “We’ll follow the Muscle Hill pattern of staying at the Meadowlands and hopefully qualify him in May.

“It’s like anything in this business — you have to be cautiously optimistic — but he’s training back very well and appears to be healthier than ever before.”