While browsing through the entries for today’s races, I came across a horse that I had all but forgotten; a horse that caused me to pause and take a closer look.
The race is nothing extraordinary. It is a simple six-furlong allowance optional claiming event. Only five horses are scheduled to run. But one of those horses caused my jaw to drop in surprise.
“Grasshopper?!” I thought to myself. “He’s still around?!”
Yes, entered in the eighth race at Fair Grounds today is Grasshopper. A dark bay or brown son of Dixie Union out of the Mr. Prospector mare Grass Skirt, I have always been fond of him but had lost track of him in recent months. He is seven years old now; long past his prime, but still a solid runner capable of running a good race under the right conditions.
Perhaps you remember his name, for he was once on the national stage, long ago when he was but three years old. He had made two starts at age two in 2006, finishing second in a maiden special weight in his first start and breaking his maiden in a similar event next time out. Perhaps hard-core racing fans noticed this performance and made a note of him as a promising two-year-old who might someday be a nice runner, but it is doubtful that they put him in the same class as Street Sense, the year’s champion two-year-old colt who won the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile by ten lengths.
Seven months later, on June 10th, 2007, Grasshopper made his three-year-old debut in an allowance race. He was getting a late start, for the Triple Crown was already over and Street Sense had proven himself to be a runner of the highest class. The champion two-year-old had rallied from far back to win the Kentucky Derby and finish second in the Preakness Stakes. He had become the first horse in history to win the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and Kentucky Derby, which put him in an elite club to which only he belonged.
Grasshopper wasn’t even remotely in the same class. He was nothing but a maiden winner; an impressive one yes, but only a maiden winner. Perhaps someday he would win a stakes race, but if he was to run against Street Sense it was doubtful that he could even get the Derby winner to raise a sweat.
Sent off as 4-1 in his 2007 debut, Grasshopper was rated in fifth under Robby Albarado, took the lead at the eighth pole, and won the race under a hand ride.
Sent off as the favorite in a seven-furlong allowance optional claiming event one month later, he ran third after a rough trip. This raised his odds to 6-1 for his next start, a nine-furlong allowance optional claiming event at Saratoga. Under Calvin Borel, he romped by six lengths in 1:49 2/5.
The effort was impressive enough to warrant a step up in class.
A big step up in class.
To a grade I race.
But not just any grade I race.
When Grasshopper’s name next appeared in the entries, it was among the seven horses entered in the Travers Stakes. The race, frequently referred to as the “Midsummer Derby”, is one of the oldest races in the United States, and winning it is a remarkable achievement. The race often---if not always---draws a Triple Crown race winner or two, and among the horses entered to face Grasshopper in 2007 was Street Sense.
It would be the pauper against the prince at Saratoga, one of the nation’s biggest stages. Thousands would be watching, but no one really expected Grasshopper to defeat the much more highly regarded Street Sense. Allowance optional claiming race winners just don’t defeat the winner of the Kentucky Derby!
Therefore, when seven horses paraded on to the Saratoga main track on August 25th, 2007, with their destination being the starting gate, Street Sense was the overwhelming favorite. He had prepped for the Travers with a 1 ½ length victory in the Jim Dandy Stakes (gr. II) over C P West and Sightseeing, and with regular rider Calvin Borel in the saddle he was widely expected to enter the history books as the winner of the 138th Travers Stakes.
Sightseeing and C P West were back for another try at the Derby winner. The second and third choices, respectively, at 4.60-1 and 8.50-1, both had the ability to upset Street Sense under the right conditions. Sightseeing had Edgar Prado in the saddle and C P West had Cornileo Velasquez.
Grasshopper was the fourth choice at 9.60-1. Robby Albarado was in the saddle, replacing Calvin Borel who would be riding Street Sense.
The longshots were Loose Leaf, For You Reppo, and Helsinki, none lower than 22-1. Helsinki, a Nick Zito trainee, was 49.75-1.
One by one, they loaded into the gate. Ahead of them lay a mile and a quarter of racetrack. Whichever horse could out rally the others and cross the wire first would be remembered forever, his name forever inscribed with the other 137 winners of the historic race.
The gates opened.
Immediately, Grasshopper and C P West set out to take the lead, with Street Sense right behind them. Helsinki broke slowly and was taken back to last, as many as eleven lengths off the pace in the early going.
Although Grasshopper had been coming from just off the pace in his recent races, he found himself battling for the lead this time, as he and C P West ran an opening quarter in :23.68. Looming right behind them was Street Sense, biding his time as he usually did. Loose Leaf and For You Reppo were racing together in fourth, with Sightseeing close behind in sixth. Helsinki was seven lengths behind him, seemingly too far out of the race to menace whatsoever.
Then the pace began to slow down. Grasshopper moved up to take a one length lead and cut a half mile in :48.18. C P West was still sitting second, a half-length clear of Street Sense. The Kentucky Derby winner was a bit closer to the pace than he usually was, which did not bode well for his rivals.
Then C P West began to make a run at Grasshopper. After running three quarters of a mile in 1:12.43, he was just a half-length off of the leader. Street Sense was also closer to the pace, now just a length behind Grasshopper. With just a half-mile left to run, the race was on!
Street Sense continued to move closer to the game leader, but C P West was beginning to drop back.
Suddenly, Street Sense was on top of Grasshopper. They were separated by a head as the past the mile marker in 1:36.93. It appeared as though Street Sense was ready to blow right past the front runner; the front runner who was making his stakes debut; the front runner who was in over his head against Street Sense.
But something happened down the long Saratoga homestretch that changed everyone’s opinion of the dark bay or brown colt.
He wouldn’t give in.
As a team, Street Sense and Grasshopper drove down the homestretch together; locked in combat; racing as one. Neither would give an inch.
They passed the eighth pole with Street Sense clinging to a narrow head lead. The crowd cheered madly as the Kentucky Derby winner dueled with a runner who had never run in a stakes race. It was the prince against the pauper in a dramatic stretch battle. One or the other had to break under the intense strain.
Neither broke . . . but Grasshopper cracked.
In the final one hundred and ten yards, Grasshopper relented ever so narrowly. Street Sense gradually extended his lead to a neck. Under the wire they flashed, Street Sense pushed to the very limit to hold off a colt who wasn’t supposed to be able to get him to raise a sweat. The final time was 2:02.69.
It was a race that will never be forgotten. Although Street Sense had proven victorious in the end, Grasshopper had proven himself to be a worthy foe to the leading three-year-old in the nation. Amazingly, Helsinki rallied to finish third, although he was a good ten lengths behind Grasshopper.
Although the latter finished second in the Super Derby (gr. II) later in 2007 and won the 2008 Mineshaft Handicap (gr. III), he never returned to the form that he showed in the Travers Stakes. He has raced in a variety of stakes races over the years, finishing on the board many times but rarely finding the winners circle. His record at this time is 19-5-6-2 with earnings of $846,152.
He enters today’s allowance optional claiming event off of a ten-month layoff. He has not raced since finishing last in the Gulfstream Park Handicap (gr. II) on March 13th, 2010. He faces a difficult task today, as Cash Refund and Backtalk, two very nice sprinters, are among those entered against him. But win, lose, or draw, Grasshopper will always be fondly remembered as the pauper who forced the prince to run on one of the nation’s biggest stages.
-Keelerman
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