Justify’s last run at a Triple Crown
The journey started in early February when trainer Bob Baffert walked into the office of Santa Anita racing secretary Rick Hammerle to inquire whether there would be enough entrants for an upcom- ing maiden race.
“I have a horse in there that can win the Kentucky Derby,” Baffert told Hammerle.
Whowould have thought Baffert was underselling that horse?
On Saturday at Belmont Park, Justify is looking to join the highest stratum of horse racing immortality by becoming the 13th thoroughbred to win the Triple Crown.
Before the Kentucky Derby three years ago, some believed that the Triple Crown was a relic of a bygone time and that changes in the industry made winning the Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes in a fiveweek span no longer possible. It had been 37 years since Affirmed completed the feat.
Then came American Pharoah.
Justify, if he wins Saturday, will forever be linked to American Pharoah, who also was trained by Baffert. If he loses, he will join Silver Charm (1997), Real Quiet (1998) and War Emblem (2002) as Baffert-trained horses who came up one vic-
tory short.
Justify could join Seattle Slew as the only undefeated horse to win the Triple Crown. He also could become the first horse to accomplish that feat without having raced as a 2-yearold. And he will have run the fewest races — six.
All signs point to his being able to win, just as they had for the 13 other horses who failed in the third race after Affirmed won in 1978.
When exercise rider Humberto Gomez finished galloping Justify around the track Friday morning, he stopped to yell at Baffert, “He loves this track.” He repeated it for everyone listening.
Justify has looked good in his two practice trips around the giant 1 1/2-mile track.
“He’s just moving over the track really well,” Baffert said Friday. “This is what a trainer hopes to see the day before a horse runs. Coming off the track, he was just full of himself. He seems like he’s still improving. I know he’s going to show up and run his race.
“But he still has to get around there and he has to break well, and he needs racing luck, which is out of our control. I couldn’t be happier with him. He looks no different than American Pharoah did coming in here. We just have to wait and see how everything goes.”
There are 10 horses entered in the race, and only Justify and Bravazo will have run in all three Triple Crown races. Bravazo finished sixth in the Kentucky Derby and second in the Preakness.
Bravazo (sixth), Hofburg (seventh), Vino Rosso (ninth), Free Drop Billy ( 16th) and Noble Indy (17th) all ran in the Derby but skipped the Preakness. Tenfold (third) ran in the Preakness but not the Derby.
Restoring Hope, who runs for Baffert, and Blended Citizen, trained by Doug O’Neill, are running their first Triple Crown race.