Bob Baffert has been chasing California Chrome with Dortmund but had chosen to ship stable mate Hoppertunity back east for a shot at a “win and you’re in” affair. The move paid off with a victory in the G1 $1,000,000 Jockey Club Gold Cup at Belmont. Hoppertunity’s win paid $9.60, $4.00 and $2.60 across the board, Effinex placed for $3.00 and $2.20, while Protonico paid $3.80 for the show.
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In addition to the $600,000 payday for the win, Hoppertunity will also collect an all expenses paid trip past the entry box in the Breeder’s Cup Classic.
Jockey John Velazquez settled the eventual winner along the rail behind the front running duo of Protonic and Effinex, the 6-5 favorite. Protonico broke from the rail and had gone straight to the front in a decently rated 24.87 and 49.03. Effinex and Mike Smith sat comfortably off of his right flank. Velasquez began a hearty hand ride near the 3/8’s pole, pulling Hopperunity out just wide enough in the stretch to put away the embattled leaders by ½ length. Protonico held up the white flag and Effinex had no late response. The 1-1/4 mile dirt course was rated as “fast” and was covered in 2:00.68.
2nd place Effinex was well positioned the whole race and had no excuse. Protonico came in off of an allowance race tightener, controlled the pace, was just not good enough, and had to be vanned off. 4th and 5th place also-rans Mubtaahij and Watershed did not have an impact on the race. Hoppertunity ran what we call in harness racing a “perfect trip”. He sat inside behind the pace-setters and made a slingshot move home off the turn. For future handicapping purposes, I was unimpressed by the whole race.
As we approach the Breeder’s Cup Classic I am looking for horses that are moving forward into the big race. There was not much of that here. The end of a long 2016 campaign seems to be taking it’s toll on almost everybody. I expected a bigger move forward off of the layoff for Protonico. Effinex seems to be coming off peak form. 4th place Mubtaahij took a step back. Hoppertunity’s win was by only ½ length off of a perfect trip.
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The way that Hoppertunity is not really competitive with California Chrome (and even with stablemate Dortmund, for that matter) yet ships to Belmont for a $1,000,000 G1 victory just confirms how great Chrome is. The way that everyone else seems to be grinding down along with the way California Chrome keeps dominating with ease, I look forward to watching, but not necessarily betting on, the Classic this year.
We’ll be back again to beat the favorite next week.
