Tabitha,

I think your point about the questionable breeding of some of the recent winners only proves that the third leg of the triple crown often comes up an empty race. The Tabasco Cat race was just awful (possibly the quickest Belmont strip ever, two or three track records set that day), the Editors Note race was very slow, the Thunder Gulch race was the second worse grade 1 race in history, and the Commendable race was the worst grade 1 race in history. When there is a fast horse with true distance breeding, the horses that can not handle the extra quarter are exposed. So the question becomes: will the 2002 Belmont be another crap race, where a Gone West or 49er (or Our Emblem) wins it in slow time, or is there another Easy Goer or AP Indy out there? (unless Perfect Drift or Like a Hero turn out to be something special, I think the answer is obvious)