Hoppertunity Wins Clark in Return to Churchill

Hoppertunity lived up to his favoritism when he won the Clark Handicap. (Photo by Churchill Downs/Reed Palmer Photography)
After scratching from the 2014 Kentucky Derby only days before that event, Hoppertunity made good on his return to Churchill Downs on Saturday when he won the $550,700 Clark Handicap.
Hoppertunity and jockey Martin Garcia sat chilly in second, behind pacesetter Constitution through sensible early fractions after breaking from the inside post position. The pair opened up a few lengths on third-placed Departing through the first quarter but by the half, the field came back to the leaders. However, it was no surprise to see Constitution and Hoppertunity battling it out for the lead turning into the stretch, as they had been looked on as the two most likely winners of the race.
The biggest surprise may have come from Protonico, who like Constitution is trained by Todd Pletcher, as he tried to take on Hoppertunity in the final sixteenth after the Bob Baffert trainee had put away his fellow trainee. It was a valiant effort by the 7.20-to-1 Protonico but Hoppertunity lived up to his 2-1 odds by crossing the wire ½ length in front of the challenger. Constitution was good enough to keep his third place position with Pick of the Litter in fourth.
 "It had been a while since he'd run. The day he ran seven-eighths (of a mile last month), I think it was a little short for him. I knew today was going to be a really, really big race for him. We know that he's a really good horse," Garcia said of Hoppertunity. "There were about four horses (in the field) that had been running with really good horses. I knew the one on the lead (Constitution) was the most dangerous. I just wanted to follow him."
Hoppertunity, one of the Kentucky Derby favorites during the week of that event, had to be scratched two days before the race. He returned to the races on Oct. 29 at Santa Anita where he ran second, showing an impressive turn of foot to finish only a half-length behind fellow Bob Baffert trainee Pimpernel. The race set Hoppertunity up perfectly for the Clark and he was able to get a Grade 1 over the Churchill Downs surface, even if it wasn’t the Grade 1 his connections imagined him winning at Churchill Downs back in the spring.
The win wasn’t only revenge for Hoppertunity, it was also a reverse of fortunes for trainer Bob Baffert. Baffert sent multiple Grade 1 winner Game On Dude to the Clark last year but the gelding lost by a head to eventual 3-year-old champion Will Take Charge.
"That was great. He ran great today... He was ready," Baffert said about Hoppertunity. "All I know is that stretch has been a killer for me but that horse was bred to run a mile-and-an-eighth and a mile-and-a-quarter."
Going off as the 2.20-to-1 favorite, Hoppertunity covered the 1 1/8 mile distance in a time of 1:49.88 and gave bettors $6.40 back on a $2 win ticket.
For an Equibase chart, click here.