Mountaineer -- Senator Byrd Memorial -- Struth

[SoCalMan2]

Am curious what peoples\' take would be on the horse Struth in this race.

He was a 5 year old with very good, but not the very best, back numbers.....who shows signs of tailing off and then gets claimed for $20k by a 25% winning trainer and then ..... wham next out....when entered for a $25k tag....runs a figure good enough to win the Breeders Cup Sprint.  He bounces off that figure, but then runs a secondary top that is still Graded Stakes material...and tomorrow shows up in this out of the way (Northern Panhandle of West Virginia) stakes race.  

Am curious what to make of this horse?  If this horse is what 2 out of his 3 figures are for his new connection, shouldn\'t he be plying deeper waters?  Is the testing regime for five figure stakes races in Delaware and West Virginia just much safer waters for whatever he may be plying?  Am I being unreasonable?

Also, what sort of a future would one predict for a horse like this?  Is the fact that he bounced and then could not get back to the prior figure a suggestion that whatever boost he has gotten is of limited duration and tailing off?   Under the prior regime...this horse seemed to suffer from big numbers and as he went on, the big numbers proceeded to get slower to the point he was dropped in for the $20k tag...maybe that pattern repeats itself and we are going to see him tail back off.

Anyway, this sheet seems to me to be a jarring example of a change of barns special.  I wonder if this sort of sheet is the norm for this guy\'s first time trainer change situations.