Mall you're too good a handicapper for me to dismiss Essence of Dubai out of hand. But I hated him in the Derby. I'll check the charts again but I don't think he was horribly compromised. So now he gets to lay up at Belmont and ambush the others on five weeks rest. He beat a bunch of Saudi desert horses in Arabia is all. The final time wasn't much compared to the big race out there and the time for that race wasn't much either in my opinion. I think the Epitome in his blood is better than the Pulpit. For the life of me however I can't recall what long races Epitome won. I think hes gonna have to close and generally the Belmont is not won that way. I'll review his works out there when the time comes but I don't see him nearly as good a horse as about 4 or 5 others that figure to go in that race. I reserve the right to revise that Belmont opinion however.

Tabitha