Hoppertunity to miss a month after ankle surgery

Hoppertunity, the winner of the Rebel Stakes and the runner-up behind California Chrome in the Santa Anita Derby, had surgery to remove a bone spur in his ankle this week. Hoppertunity will get 30 days off and then resume light training if all goes well, trainer Bob Baffert said Tuesday on “At the Races with Steve Byk.”

“We’re going to miss all the major stuff. He’s going to be a good horse in the fall,” Baffert said.

Hoppertunity was entered in the Kentucky Derby last Wednesday but was scratched from the race Thursday. Hoppertunity worked a half-mile on a sloppy track at Churchill on April 28 and did not come out of the work in good shape. Baffert said he believed a bruised foot, more than the bone spur, was bothering Hoppertunity.

Social Inclusion to van to Pimlico

Social Inclusion, who was third last out in the Wood Memorial, is scheduled to depart by van from his base at Gulfstream Park on Wednesday and arrive at Pimlico on Thursday. Social Inclusion, who didn’t have sufficient qualifying points to make the Kentucky Derby field, was scratched from a minor stakes last weekend at Gulfstream because of a bruised hoof but remains pointed to the Preakness.

A decision on the Preakness status of Tampa Bay Derby winner Ring Weekend will be made after the colt breezes Saturday at the Fair Hill Training Center.

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