Santa Anita
Hoppertunity joining Baffert string at Churchill
Barbara D. Livingston Hoppertunity trains at Santa Anita on Nov. 13.
A number of top trainers often leave Santa Anita in the spring with their better horses, owing to rich opportunities surrounding the Triple Crown races, and this year Bob Baffert said he will have a string at Churchill Downs. His runners there will be headed by multiple Grade 1 winner Hoppertunity, who is not going to the Dubai World Cup and instead is being pointed to the Alysheba at Churchill Downs on Kentucky Derby weekend, Baffert said.
“He likes the softer tracks back there,” Baffert said of Hoppertunity, who has won the Clark at Churchill, and the Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont, during his 29-race career. Hoppertunity has not raced since finishing fourth in the San Antonio at Santa Anita on Dec. 26.
