Mubtaahij Earns Bullet in Belmont Breeze
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Belmont Stakes (gr. I) hopeful Mubtaahij took to Belmont Park's inner turf course along with stablemate Umgiyo and posted a bullet five-furlong breeze May 17.
Clockers caught Mubtaahij in 1:01.11, while Umgiyo earned an official time of 1:01.15, the second-fastest of 22 works at the distance.
Mubtaahij, the United Arab Emirates Derby (UAE-II) winner, arrived at Belmont May 15 from Churchill Downs in good order, following his eighth-place finish in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I).
"He's a good traveler," reported trainer Mike de Kock's assistant, Trevor Brown, adding that the son of Dubawi has continued to keep weight on since the Derby.
Brown was satisfied with the pair's first work over the Belmont inner turf.
"Umgiyo is a proper turf horse and, of course, Mubtaahij is a dirt horse, so I was quite happy with the gallop," Brown said. "I was pleased with both of them."
Turf workouts are a common training regimen for the de Kock barn, even for dirt specialists such as Mubtaahij, according to Brown.
"Doesn't matter if they're turf, poly, or all-weather (horses), we'll gallop them on the turf," Brown said. "We just get a little more out of them galloping on the turf, as opposed to working on the dirt. On the dirt, they can come out a little stiff. As for the turf, it's kinder on their legs."
Umgiyo, most recently ninth in the Woodford Reserve Turf Classic (gr. IT) at Churchill on the Kentucky Derby undercard, has been named to the $1 million Knob Creek Manhattan (gr. IT) on Belmont Stakes Day, as well as the $250,000 Belmont Gold Cup Invitational June 5.
"Umgiyo is named to both," Brown said. "So we'll see how strong (the Manhattan field) is. We just want to get his confidence back."