Hoppertunity may point to Gold Cup

ARCADIA, Calif. - Hoppertunity, the winner of Sunday’s Grade 3 Tokyo City Cup Stakes for his seventh career stakes win, may not be the most high-profile runner in trainer Bob Baffert’s stable.

After all, the barn includes the Kentucky Derby-bound Justify and the 2017 champion 3-year-old colt West Coast. Those runners are brilliant.

However, they cannot claim the longevity of Hoppertunity, who has been around so long that he was second to California Chrome in the 2014 Santa Anita Derby.

“He is a barn favorite,” Baffert said. “It’s pretty cool to have him around.”

The $100,345 Tokyo City Cup was Hoppertunity’s first win since the Grade 2 San Antonio Stakes in February 2017, and ended a four-race losing streak.

“I enjoyed watching him win,” Baffert said. “Everybody loves Hopper.”

Hoppertunity has won two Grade 1 races in his career: the 2014 Clark Handicap at Churchill Downs and the 2016 Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont Park. Owned by Mike Pegram, Karl Watson, and Paul Weitman, the 7-year-old Hoppertunity has won 8 of 30 starts and earned $4,407,025.

There will be chances at lucrative graded stakes in the near future. Baffert mentioned the Grade 1, $500,000 Gold Cup at Santa Anita at 1 1/4 miles on May 26 and the Grade 2, $400,000 Brooklyn Invitational at 1 1/2 miles at Belmont Park on June 9 as possible goals.