Justify wins second leg of Triple Crown
BALTIMORE — Justify rounded the final turn and hit the top of the stretch winded but with the lead.
The roar from the crowd was delayed, hushed by the thick fog that enveloped the track. When Justify emerged from the haze in view of the grandstand, trainer Bob Baffert could see jockey Mike Smith’s white silks and knew his horse had been pushed to his limit with 100 yards left to go.
“I knew he was in for a fight,” Baffert said. “I knew
this was not going to be easy.”
It wasn’t easy, but Justify had enough left to hold off several hard-charging challengers and win the Preakness on a sloppy, slippery track Saturday and keep alive the chance for a second Triple Crown champion in four years.
After winning the most difficult race of his career, Justify has the chance at the Belmont Stakes in New York on June 9 to accomplish the same feat Baffert’s American Pharoah did in 2015.
“We’ll see how he trains,” Baffert said. “Right now, I don’t see why not.”
Just getting through the Preakness was a test for the Kentucky Derby champion and heavy 2-5 favorite. When Smith looked over his shoulder early and saw Good Magic, he thought, “Oh man, it’s going to be a match race from this point on,” and Justify held up to the challenge down the backstretch and late as Bravazo and Tenfold chased him down.
“They tested his fitness today,” Smith said after his second Preakness victory and first since 1993. “This is the hardest race that he’s had.”
With Baffert praying for the wire at Pimlico, Justify won by a half-length after completing the race in 1:55.93. Bravazo was second, Tenfold third and Good Magic was fourth.
“What I saw of it, I liked it a lot,” said veteran D. Wayne Lukas, who trains Bravazo.
“I want them to extend it another 50 yards. … We ran at him. We kept him honest just like we said we would.”
Good Magic pressed Justify so much, the Derby runner-up faded near the end of the 13/16mile race and fell out of the money for the first time in his career.
“Oh, man. It was a nail-biter,” Baffert told NBC after the race. “They put it to us. That (Good Magic) was a good horse, and it was like they had their own private match race. Somebody had to give, and I’m glad it wasn’t us.
“I’m so happy that we got it done. He (Justify) is just a great horse to handle all that pressure and keep on running.”
In a dizzying 90-day rush, Justify has rolled from his maiden victory to seizing the first two legs of the Triple Crown.
It takes a remarkable talent to pull off such an unprecedented feat, and he is that — 1,270 pounds of muscle on muscle combined with a sprinter’s quickness and an adaptable mind. Justify was ranked among the heaviest Preakness favorites in recent history.
It won’t be known for three weeks if Justify has enough fuel left in his tank to do what American Pharoah did three years ago. NBC analyst and Hall of Fame jockey Jerry Bailey said his superior quality will prevent us from seeing vulnerability until he’s truly asked to reach deep, as he might be over the 11/2 miles at Belmont Park.
Baffert tied Lukas’ record with his 14th Triple Crown victory and matched 19th-century trainer R.W. Walden with his seventh Preakness title. Baffert also remained undefeated with Derby winners in the Preakness following Silver Charm, Real Quiet, War Emblem and American Pharoah.
Justify, who paid $2.80, $2.80 and $2.60 as the deserved favorite and improved to 5-0, showed more evidence of being the same kind of super horse as American Pharoah, and Baffert has repeatedly drawn comparisons between them. Those will only continue assuming Justify is good to go for the Belmont in three weeks.
“He has to come out of the
race well, and he’s got to be training really well,” Baffert said. “I did the same thing with American Pharoah, all my horses that ran the Triple Crown, they have to be 100 percent.”
Justify looked every bit of 100 percent after a bruised heel in the Derby caused quite the firestorm.
The morning after the Derby, Baffert brought Justify out of his barn for a victory lap, but the horse appeared agitated and unable to put much weight on his left hind leg. Baffert did not notice anything wrong at the time, but when videos of the appearance were posted on social media, speculation swirled that Justify might be lame.
Baffert later said that Justify was dealing with “scratches,” a skin irritation that is common among horses who encounter wet surfaces. But when Kentucky Horse Racing Commission veterinarians examined Justify two days later, they found no sign of a rash, instead saying he had a bruised heel.
After a few more days of rest and relaxation, Justify returned to the track looking like his old self. Before he left Kentucky for Baltimore, he was reshod and an adhesive reinforcement was placed on his left hind hoof. Baffert said he was confident that Justify was ready.
Baffert made good on his promise Saturday, when Justify looked no worse for the wear as he toyed with his competition.
Had the Preakness been just a tenth of a mile longer, Justify might have been caught, though Smith thought he had plenty of horse left.
“He withstood that, and even though he got tired today, he was also looking around a bit at the end,” Smith said. “Although it was half a length, I certainly could’ve got after him a whole lot more a little earlier and made him do a little more, as well.”