Justify brings joy to Canadian breeders
Undefeated Triple Crown run ‘means everything’ to Glennwood Farm
What a ride it’s been for Canadian John Gunther and Glennwood Farm.
Justify captured the Belmont Stakes by 1 lengths Saturday to become just the 13th U.S. Triple Crown champion and second since 1978. The majestic chestnut colt was bred at Glennwood Farm in Versailles, Ky., which is owned by Gunther and run by his daughter, Tanya.
“What an amazing experience, my heart was pounding and I had to sit down,” said Gunther, who witnessed Justify’s historic run at Belmont Park. “Everybody was in tears, the staff at Glennwood, my daughter and even myself.
“It’s just incredible to consider the horse’s first start was Feb.18. What he’s accomplished in such a short time is just really incredible, I just don’t know what else to say.” It was Tanya Gunther who paired Justify’s sire (Scat Daddy) and mare (Stage Magic). John Gunther credits his daughter’s encyclopedic understanding of bloodlines for creating the champion thoroughbred.
“This means everything to Glennwood,” John Gunther said. “We’re a small, petite farm and now we’re going to be rec- ognized around the world.
“Any time we’re consigning yearlings we’re going to get people certainly taking a second look at our consignments when we do sell yearlings. We’ve been able to brand something very special in what we’ve accomplished.”
The Gunthers knew shortly after Justify’s birth he was something special. John Gunther, of Langley, B.C., was so convinced Justify would win the Triple Crown he predicted the sweep long before the horse’s Kentucky Derby win. “What’s most impressive about him is his mental attitude, nothing upsets him at all,” Gunther said. “You look at 170,000 people yelling and screaming at the Kentucky Derby and he doesn’t even turn a hair. “When we saw him in the paddock (Saturday), he just looked so typically fantastic. He even looked like he added a few pounds from the Preakness, I mean, this horse just recovers so amazingly quick.”
At 6-0, Justify joins Seattle Slew (1977) as the only two undefeated Triple Crown winners. Justify is also the first horse to register the sweep without racing as a 2-year-old due to a pulled muscle.
Justify’s pedigree features plenty of Canadian content.
Scat Daddy’s bloodlines include Canadian-breds Nijinsky (an English Triple Crown champion), Northern Dancer and Storm Bird. Stage Magic’s genealogy features Canadian Hall of Famer Awesome Again — the 1997 Queen’s Plate and 1998 Breeders’ Cup Classic champion — and Canadianbreds Deputy Minister, Vice Regent and Mint Copy.
Justify was a $500,000 (U.S.) Keeneland September yearling purchase by China Horse Club and Maverick Racing. He earned $800,000 for winning the Belmont, boosting his career total to almost $3.8 million.
Gunther might have to look no further than his farm for the next Justify. The Triple Crown winner’s yet unnamed halfbrother is a yearling at Glennwood and is the spitting image of his older sibling.
“He’s as impressive as Justify was as a yearling,” Gunther said. “When the half-brother was foaled he was lying in the stall and his legs were so long that I said to Tanya, ‘Well, here’s one we can’t sell.’
“I didn’t even realize it was Justify’s half-brother and it was Stage Magic who’d had the foal.”