Mubtaahij gets back to work; Frosted possible for Belmont

Mubtaahij plans to take up a closer stalking position in the Belmont (Rickelle Nelson/Horsephotos.com) Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa al Makotum’s Mubtaahij (Dubawi), eighth in the Kentucky Derby (G1), put in his final work over the Churchill Downs main track Sunday morning before shipping to Belmont Park on Tuesday where he will work toward a start in the June 6 Belmont S. (G1). The Mike de Kock trainee breezed a half-mile in :49 2/5, the 11th fastest of 39 at the distance. Assistant trainer Trevor Brown said that he was pleased with the colt’s work over the track. “This was his first piece of work since he ran, so we’re still on target for Belmont,” Brown said. “I was pretty satisfied with the work.” Brown went on to discuss the colt’s performance in the Kentucky Derby stating that Mubtaahij was a little closer to the rail and further back than he would have preferred. He said one could expect him to be much more forwardly placed in the Belmont S.

“We’ll have to be (closer),” he said. “It (Belmont) has a shorter home stretch
and we’re going to have to be closer and sharper. American horses are a lot
sharper out of the stalls in the first two furlongs than we are. We’ll have to
sharpen up a bit. I don’t know if he handled the run on the rail; I would have
liked for him to be a little more out.”

Mubtaahij will look to become the first foreign-bred and -based horse to win
the Belmont in 25 years. Go and Go, bred and based in Ireland, was the
most recent foreign horse to win the third jewel of the Triple Crown, which he
won for trainer Dermot Weld in 1990.

In other Belmont S. news, trainer Kiaran McLaughlin is hopeful Twinspires.com
Wood Memorial (G1) winner Frosted (Tapit) will make his next start in the 1
1/2-mile classic. The three-year-old colt exited his fourth-place finish in the
Kentucky Derby in good shape, according to McLaughlin, with his status for the
Belmont to be resolved in the near future.

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