I will keep this brief.

Pharoah has been compared to Smarty Jones and Big Brown.

Smarty: a) Did Stewart Elliot get outsmarted/outridden? Did the fact that SJ
moved forward two TG points in his Preakness win take too much out of him? I
seem to recall Smarty winning easily in Baltimore... could he have been geared
down more?

Brownie: Lack of 2YO foundation, and foundation in general. Awful hoof problems
which required the daily care and attention of Tricky\'s exclusive farrier. And
who knows when this one was taken off his steroid regimen.

My point: American Pharoah has the same question attached to him that Smarty
and Brownie did...can he perform three times in five weeks... but does not
seem to have the nagging question marks which were attached to Smarty and
Brownie.

Does this mean I think that AP will make Laura and other history seekers happy?

Zito spoiled the Triple Crown bids of both Smarty and Brownie and overall has
a very good record in the Belmont; Pletcher runners have been much more
effective on the first Saturday in June than the first Saturday in May. The
Pletcher runner I like most might be the least touted: The Peter Pan winner
has reportedly been training very well.

Frosted has trained well since the Derby and I need to watch the Derby replay
a few times; one has to be encouraged that this one was able to hang up a
negative TG at a track NOT located in Ozone Park, NY.

Bottom line: You could give me the PPs and the TGs from Belmont Day 2008 and
it would STILL be very difficult for me to come up with D\'Tara.