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Originally Posted by RolloTomasi
Grasshopper's "huge" second in the weakly assembled Travers field was IMO further validation that Street Sense, despite the Derby win (in which he was lugging in badly the final 1/8th), was not particularly suited to 10f, as opposed to evidence that Grasshopper was improving leaps and bounds. Assuming this, it came as no shock that he lost the Super Derby at odds-on next out (or that Street Sense hung badly the final 1/8th of the BC Classic when trying to match strides with Curlin).
Put on the shelf afterwards, like most Lane's End colts, he wintered at the Fairgrounds for the stakes leading up to the New Orleans Handicap. And like those recent horses (eg Midway Road, Rock Slide, Patriot Act, Parade Leader, Alumni Hall, Crossword), with the exception of Mineshaft, he failed to progress significantly from his 3yo campaign, which had him ranked in the 2nd-tier at best.
Following the New Orleans, trainer Neil Howard typically uses the Ben Ali as a bridge to the Pimlico Special and NY handicaps, but this year, perhaps to avoid the Polytrack, he chose to start Grasshopper in the one-turn Westchester at Belmont, where he ran into that buzzsaw of McLaughlin's that ended up winning the Met Mile. At the time, Howard was quoted as saying he thought the colt, despite his modest success around two turns, was actually better suited to a flat mile. Given his pedigree, by the precocious 2yo and sprinter/middle distance 3yo Dixie Union out of a Mr. Prospector mare, this actually makes some sense.
Neil Howard, following that browbeating in the Westchester chose to stretch the colt back out to no avail in the Pimlico Special and Stephen Foster, but given Devine Park's lofty speed figures and subsequent exploits, a career geared towards extended sprints and flat miles still makes a lot of sense, just not necessarily at the Grade 1 level.
He could be the next Saarland.
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