As the Belmont turned, a soap opera was born

At some point in the relatively recent past, it was decided that horses can no longer do what Justify has done, and therefore, what Justify has done is amazing. And yet horses once could do what Justify has done, if not in the literal sense of winning six races in 111 days at the beginning of a career, ending at the apogee of the sport, then in the spirit of Derby and Preakness winner Carry Back running nine races at 3 before hitting a wall in the Belmont, or of Tim Tam, who raced once at 2 and then 12 times at 3 before going wrong in his attempt to win the Triple Crown.

Seattle Slew, the only other horse now mentioned in the same breath as Justify, retains the distinction of being the lone 2-year-old champion to go undefeated through the Triple Crown, an achievement of extraordinary scope. Billy Turner, his trainer, had to negotiate the colt’s transition from shiny young object to a horse of classic depth and poise, and they never missed a note.

By the time Seattle Slew arrived at the 1977 Kentucky Derby, he had been racing and training since the previous September. He had already won the Champagne, the Flamingo, and the Wood Memorial at three different tracks. And, not for nothing, Seattle Slew raced six times and won six times in the 95 days between his 3-year-old debut in March and his triumph in the Belmont Stakes.

Because he raced at 2, though, Seattle Slew is recalled as a relatively slow burn across the racing sky, while Justify has been a redhot comet. Blink and you would have missed him, for all his social media presence and the blanket Justify coverage from NBC since his win in the Santa Anita Derby. Six wins from six starts and a Triple Crown for icing in less than four months is heady, historical stuff. But now what? Has another “savior” of horse racing come and gone?

In fact, Justify already may have done enough. Sure, fans would love to see him run in the Travers, especially after Belmont runner-up Gronkowski learns to break, and in the Breeders’ Cup Classic at Churchill Downs, where Justify could take a dramatic Derby curtain call.

But these are itches only racing fans feel obligated to scratch. The wider sports world in which racing must throw elbows for attention cares not a whit about the emergence of Bee Jersey as a star on the rise, or the satisfying maturation of Accelerate as the best older runner in the West, or of Monomoy Girl’s flirtation with becoming something very special. In fact, the only reason Justify might keep racing is because stallion season in Kentucky doesn’t start until next February.

In providing a second Triple Crown in a span of three years, however, Justify has done his part to make the achievement mainstream once again. Americans love dynasties, whether in politics, sports, or musical acts, and the Triple Crown is racing’s greatest dynastic concept, an institution that predates every major championship event except the World Series.

There is a reason the 1970s are longingly referred to as the Golden Age of Racing, and it’s not because of Ruffian, Forego, and Ack Ack. The Triple Crowns of Secretariat, Seattle Slew, and Affirmed, coming as they did after a quarter of a century without, cast the sport in a bright white light that demanded attention. Back then it was high-impact magazine covers. Today … it’s everything.

Which is why there should be no surprise that the opening quarter-mile of the 150th Belmont Stakes last Saturday has become grist for post-race agita. The early progress of longshot Restoring Hope appeared to cross the line into discouraging other horses from troubling the early rhythms of Justify, his Bob Baffert stablemate.

Such actions, if true, can be camouflaged by the helter-skelter run for position into the quick first turn of a one-circuit race like the Belmont. If jockey Florent Geroux thought he was in jeopardy of being squeezed out of the first flight aboard Restoring Hope, that could provide cover for his whoop-dee-do aggression. If the colt took the bit and tried to straighten the turn, that might explain his fanning wide. And if, once under control, Geroux tightened the box on Bravazo to the inside, behind Justify, that can be dismissed as simply Raceriding 101.

But then, when you put it all together, it plays poorly, even though only the imagination can account for what the early pace scenario would have looked like without the wanderings of Restoring Hope. In the end, nothing Geroux did rose to the level of flagrantly unsafe riding, and stewards are notoriously shy about penalizing bad intentions.

As much as today’s trainers and jockeys seem to enjoy the spotlight, enhancing their brands, they still operate primarily behind the scenes, and more is left unsaid in lieu of quiet understandings and business relationships. Icebergs reveal more above the waterline.

In the end, at least for the wider sports world, the first turn of the 2018 Belmont Stakes will eventually fade into the background, leaving only sour grapes. That’s too bad, because Justify deserved a clean deal, with no strings attached, and nothing but the memory of a gorgeous red colt standing tall atop a reinvigorated Triple Crown.