Baffert invades with solid pair for Suburban

ELMONT, N.Y. – Trainer Bob Baffert, who has had unprecedented success shipping to New York on each of the last two Belmont Stakes Days, will try to add to his local legacy on Saturday’s Stars and Stripes program when he sends out the top contenders Hoppertunity and Dr. Dorr in the Grade 2, $700,000 Suburban.

Baffert won four stakes on the 2017 Belmont Stakes card and three more this year, including the main event to complete a sweep of the Triple Crown with Justify. Hoppertunity was part of this year’s Belmont Day hat trick for Baffert, rallying to a 2 1/4-length victory in the 1 1/2-mile Grade 2 Brooklyn.

Baffert said after the Brooklyn that he’d likely bring Hoppertunity back to New York for the 1 1/4-mile Suburban. That Dr. Dorr will join him in the starting gate was a last-minute decision. Baffert first entered the vastly improved Grade 2 winner in Friday night’s Cornhusker Handicap at Prairie Meadows.

“The handicap division is a little soft this time of year, and for that kind of money, I thought it was worth the chance to send both of them,” said Baffert. “If Hoppertunity weren’t coming, Dr. Dorr would probably be running in Iowa. But it’s going to be hot out there, and the race is at night, so I just wasn’t sure about it and finally figured it was easier to send them both to the same place and take a shot.”

Hoppertunity is still going strong at age 7 and is one of Baffert’s all-time favorites, with his victory in the Brooklyn swelling the horse’s lifetime earnings to more than $4.6 million. Hoppertunity is also perfect in two tries at Belmont, having won the Grade 1 Jockey Club Gold Cup at 1 1/4 miles during the fall of 2016.

“A mile and one-quarter is the shortest I’ll run him now, and he is coming back a little quick,” said Baffert. “But he seems to be doing very well since the Brooklyn, and he runs so well at Belmont. He got back a little further than I thought last time, was stuck on the inside, and still closed well to win. He’s just so tough. He brings it every time.”

Dr. Dorr opened his campaign with three consecutive wins, culminating with a 7 1/4-length victory in the Grade 2 Californian at Santa Anita on April 28. The streak ended when Dr. Dorr finished second behind Accelerate – the horse many believe to be the leader of the handicap division – while stretching out to 10 furlongs for the first time in the Grade 1 Gold Cup at Santa Anita on May 26.

“A mile and one-quarter might be a little too far for him, but a one-turn mile and one-quarter could be good,” said Baffert. “He really started improving once I started stretching him out. When they’re doing as good as he’s doing, especially for this kind of money, you have to take a shot.”

Tapwrit makes his second start back from a layoff in the Suburban. He was sidelined following a fourth-place finish in the Grade 1 Travers last summer and returned to finish a wide-running, pace-pressing third under allowance conditions here on June 3. Tapwrit, whose finest hour came over this track in June 2017 with his victory in the Belmont Stakes, has trained forwardly for the Suburban.

“We felt like it was a good comeback effort,” trainer Todd Pletcher said. “It’s always hard to come back off an extended layoff going a mile and one-sixteenth, especially when involved the whole way like he was. But it was a good conditioner, his last couple of breezes were quite good, and his second start off the layoff should be better. The mile and one-quarter suits him well, and fortunately he drew near the inside.”

The field for the Suburban is deep and includes Name Changer, War Story, Zanotti, Discreet Lover, Take Your Guns, Sorry Erik, Diversify, and The Lieutenant.

Diversify holds a home-court advantage, having won five times and finishing second twice in seven local starts. His shining hour came here last October, when he led throughout to win the Jockey Club Gold Cup for trainer Rick Violette and owners Lauren and Ralph Evans. Diversify avenged one of his two Belmont Park setbacks in his most recent start, registering a nose decision in the one-mile Commentator.

War Story could not contain Hoppertunity after holding a clear lead near midstretch while trying to defend his title as the 8-5 favorite in the Brooklyn.