ROTW

[Dana666]

I couldn\'t disagree more with the analyst. I think Grasshopper is the real deal! I only hope he\'s not 3-5.

In other Fairground Stakes, I\'m expecting a real thriller in the Oaks. I love Proud Spell, and I believe today we\'ll find out if she is for real. No excuses for me either way -- she galloped out like a train in the last, and I feel she has matured nicely. Indian Blessing is brilliant, but she can\' t get much better in my  mind -- this is as far as she wants to go. But I do love the way she moves -- so fluidly. Should be a great race.

As I said in my other post the \"Derby\" is a so so race in my mind; I don\'t think the quality is much to write home about there.

In the Sprint I think Noonmark should be tough, but it\'s tough not to like Euroears; he really tries and apparently doesn\'t like to get beat.

Some nice ones running at Gulfstream as well. Chatain is one of my favorite horses, he owns one wicked turn of foot. I hope someone presses Commentator!
There\'s a couple in the grass race I\'ll give a long look to -- Herboriste and Cliffrose. I don\'t think J-Ray wants to go this far but the Pletcher \"magic\" sometimes gets horses to exceed their distance limitations.

There are a few nice colts in the finale at GP -- Tizway and Old Ninety Eight look live.

Good Luck to all -- the Fairground Pick 5 seems an interesting wager.

[fkach]

I didn\'t see Grasshopper\'s last race and I don\'t have access to FG replays.

Did it look like he won with something in reserve?

[miff]

Grass was pinned inside the whole race, would have won by much more if clear earlier.His fig suffered because he did not lose ground, opposite of the ground loaded figure earned by Brass Hat in the Clark, which by the way is substantially faster than any other reliable data I have seen.


Mike

[fkach]

Thanks Miff.

Obviously the key to the race is Grasshopper. To me he looked like a very good prospect last year, but I sort of felt that his race in the Travers wasn\'t as good as it looked because I thought the rail was the best part of the track that day. His reputation in large part is based on his tough 2nd to Street Sense (who really hadn\'t developed much since the Derby at that point). I\'m expecting this horse to develop this year and he could easily move way past these horses today even if I am right about last year.

I also agree about Brass Hat. It\'s not that I think he doesn\'t have a good shot here, but he\'s practically always wide. I see no reason he won\'t lose a few lengths again today unless he gets lucky.

I\'m not as anxious to bet against Grasshopper as some people even though he will probably be overbet a bit. There\'s really not a lot of speed in this race and Grasshopper is going to get the jump on the others.