Hoppertunity Returned to Northview PA

[Wandering Eyes]

Two-time Grade I winner, multi-millionaire and fan favorite Hoppertunity (Any Given Saturday–Refugee, by Unaccounted For) has retired and will take up stud duties at Northview Stallion Station in Pennsylvania. His 2019 fee is $5,000 LFSN with shares and lifetime breeding rights available. With career earnings of $4,712,625, the 7-year-old becomes the riches horse to ever stand his first season in the Mid-Atlantic region.

“Speed, class, stamina, and soundness will make you a multimillionaire in this business,” trainer Bob Baffert said of his longtime pupil. “Hoppertunity has them all. He could dominate the breeding industry in that region.”

Purchased by trained Bob Baffert for $300,000 at KEESEP, Hoppertunity won at least one graded event in each of his five seasons on the racetrack, during which he won nine of his 34 starts with eight seconds and five thirds. Scoring his first graded victory in the 2014 GII Rebel S., he finished second to subsequent dual Classic winner California Chrome (Lucky Pulpit) in that term’s GI Santa Anita Derby and closed out his sophomore campaign with his first top-level success in the GI Clark H. Capturing the 2015 GII San Pasqual S., the Watson, Weitman and Pegram colorbearer completed the exacta in that year’s GI Awesome Again S. and the Clark.

Winner of the 2016 GII San Antonio S.,Hoppertunity checked in third behind California Chrome in the G1 Dubai World Cup and returned to his best form later that season with a win in Belmont’s GI Jockey Club Gold Cup S. He started off 2017 with by successfully defending his San Antonio title and was third in that year’s Clark. Kicking off 2018 on a winning note in the GII Tokyo City Cup S., the bay was one of three winners for Baffert on GI Belmont S. day June 9 with a 2 1/4-length score in the GII Brooklyn H. prior to Justify (Scat Daddy)’s Triple Crown victory. Hoppertunity was last seen finishing second in the GIII Cougar H. July 25.

“I could go on and on about his racing statistics, but everyone can look them up,” said Northview’s general manager David Wade. “What most haven’t seen yet is this horse. I went to Santa Anita to inspect him for purchase and I thought they had brought me the wrong one. How could a horse that’s run 34 times, 31 of them stakes races, have legs this clean and joints this tight? As a group, our breeders are very savvy and inspect our stallions diligently, so conformation is high up on our list when shopping for new stallions. This one certainly won’t disappoint anyone.”

Out of GSP Refugee, Hoppertunity is a half-brother to MGISW Executiveprivilege (First Samurai), who earned just shy of $1 million. This is also the extended family of champion Davona Dale.

“He’s the first multi-million-dollar earning pet I’ve had in the barn,” Baffert said. “He kept some good company, hanging out with two Triple Crown winners.”

The Hall of Famer continued, “We’re going to miss him. He was the barn favorite. Everyone loves Hopper.”

 

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