NEW YORK – It was Justify’s moment, after all.
In a dazzling display of power and durability, the late-blooming colt who didn’t race as a 2-year-old proved Saturday he couldn’t be worn out as a 3-year old, thundering to victory in the Belmont Stakes to claim a place in history as the sport’s 13th Triple Crown champion.
After a 37-year drought in which the feat seemed impossible, Justify became the second horse in four years to achieve it, tutored, like his 2015 predecessor American Pharoah, by Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert.
Before Saturday’s Belmont Stakes, which Justify won by 1¾ lengths over surprise second-place finisher Gronkowski in a 10-horse field, the massive chestnut colt with the white blaze had won the Kentucky Derby by a 2½-length margin, becoming the first since Apollo in 1882 to win the classic without running as a 2-year-old. Two weeks later, Justify weathered torrential rain and a blanket of fog to win the Preakness Stakes, setting himself up for the Triple Crown bid.
All that remained was to prove that he had the toughness and resolve to conquer the longest, most grueling leg of the Triple Crown - the Belmont Stakes. On Saturday, Justify did that, too, before a rapturous crowd of roughly 100,000, leading wire-to-wire to cover the 1½-mile distance in 2:28.18 with Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith aboard. And he did it in the waning moments of a sun-splashed afternoon with a show of versatility, gliding over a dry, fast track that represented a far different test than the slop he’d slogged through at Churchill Downs and Baltimore’s Pimlico Course.
“This horse ran a tremendous race,” Smith said. “He is so gifted. He is sent from heaven, I tell you. He’s just amazing.”
Justify’s triumph embellished Baffert’s list of career achievements, as well, making him only the second trainer to win two Triple Crowns (along with the late James “Sunny Jim” Fitzsimmons, whose triumphs came in 1930 and ‘35, with Gallant Fox and Omaha, respectively).
With Saturday’s victory, Justify improved to 6-0 and joined Seattle Slew as the only horse to claim the Triple Crown with an unbeaten record. And Baffert, 65, pulled ahead of longtime friend and rival trainer D. Wayne Lukas, 82, to claim sole possession of a record 15 wins in Triple Crown races (five Kentucky Derbys, seven Preakness States and three Belmont Stakes.)
Justify’s triumph came 45 years to the day that Secretariat won the Belmont by a record 31 lengths, in a record 2:24, to clinch the 1973 Triple Crown.
Like “Big Red,” as Secretariat was lovingly called, Justify (an even bigger “Big Red,” at 16.3 hands and 1,380 pounds, compared to a typical 1,100-pound thoroughbred), broke from the No. 1 post. While it served Secretariat well, it posed a concern for Baffert, who worried his colt might get pinned against the rail if he didn’t break well.
Justify was quick out of the gate and took the lead as the horses rounded the first turn.
The 10-horse field included Preakness runner-up Bravazo and third-place finisher Tenfold. along with Derby horses Vino Rosso, Hofburg and Free Drop Billy.
Justify wore different silks than he sported in the Derby under a previous agreement among his four-way ownership group, swapping Winstar Farm’s white and green for China Horse Club International’s red with yellow stars. Baffert had joked earlier in the week that with luck, the jockeys who had their sights set on beating Justify might get confused by the change.
No chance. Between his imposing size and the way his chestnut coat glistened in the sun, Justify is a difficult athlete to overlook, particularly with his muscular hind legs propelling him forward.
Smith, with two previous Belmont Stakes victories to his credit, had him out front the entire time, keeping his silks clear as the rest of the field got caked in dirt.
In the winner’s circle afterward, the deafening sound wasn’t simply a reward; it was vindication.
When skeptics questioned his audacious ambitions for the late-developing colt, Baffert said Justify was talented enough to win the Kentucky Derby with minimal experience. And when they questioned Justify’s grueling workload - five races in a three-month span, with the Belmont making a sixth in less than four months - Baffert said his horse was tough enough to handle it.
On this afternoon, they had each other’s backs. Horse racing’s defiant ones proved they were hostage to no timetable but their own.
Triple Crown
Note: Triple Crown winners and their jockeys
2018:
Justify (Mike Smith)
2015:
American Pharoah (Victor Espinoza)
1978:
Affirmed (Steve Cauthen)
1977:
Seattle Slew (Jean Cruguet)
1973:
Secretariat (Ron Turcotte)
1948:
Citation (Eddie Arcaro)
1946:
Assault (Warren Mehrtens)
1943:
Count Fleet (John Longden)
1941:
Whirlaway (Eddie Arcaro)
1937:
War Admiral (Charles Kurtsinger)
1935:
Omaha (William Saunders)
1930:
Gallant Fox (Earl Sande)
1919:
Sir Barton (John Loftus)
