Mubtaahij Returns to Work Tab

Sheikh Mohammed bin Khalifa al Maktoum’s Mubtaahij (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) returned to the work tab Sunday for the first time since finishing eighth in the GI Kentucky Derby. The colt went a half-mile in :49.40 in preparation for the June 6 GI Belmont S. 
“This was his first piece of work since he ran, so we’re still on target for Belmont,” Trevor Brown, assistant to trainer Mike de Kock, said. “I was pretty satisfied with the work.” 
Mubtaahij earned his way into the Derby field with an eight-length romp in the G2 UAE Derby at Meydan. 
Brown expects Mubtaahij will be closer to the pace in the Belmont than he was when beaten 9 1/2 lengths in the Kentucky Derby. 
“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.”