Justify-able Triple Crown glory for feisty colt
NEW YORK — Justify defied all the odds on his way to achieving Triple Crown immortality.
The late bloomer won the Belmont Stakes by 1¾ lengths on Saturday, giving the sport its 13th Triple Crown champion.
American Pharoah ended a 37-year drought in 2015 and now just four years later, racing is celebrating another sweep of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont.
Justify began his racing career on Feb 18, a scant 77 days before the Derby. He won his first three races by a combined 19 lengths, making trainer Bob Baffert a believer.
The big chestnut colt with the appetite to match burst onto the national scene with a 2½-length victory on a sloppy track in the Derby.
Two weeks later, he survived a challenge in the fogshrouded Preakness, winning by a half-length, again in the slop to set up a Triple Crown try.
“The raw talent is there,” Baffert said. “He just came on and broke every curse there was. It was meant to be.”
On a cloudy 80-degree day at Belmont Park, Justify proved a cool customer.
He didn’t flinch when greeted by 90,327 roaring fans as he walked onto the track, and stood so quietly in the starting gate that jockey Mike Smith wondered if he’d respond when it sprang open.
Did he ever.
Justify led all the way in achieving one of the toughest feats in sports, 45 years to the day that Secretariat won the Belmont by a record 31 lengths. Smith called Justify one of the all-time greats.
“I think he’s the greatest of all time,” Smith said. “I just won the Triple Crown, man. He’s my champion.”
At 6-0, Justify joins Seattle Slew in 1977 as the only two undefeated Triple Crown winners, and he’s the first to sweep the series without racing at age 2 (because of a pulled muscle).
He’s also the only horse to beat nine rivals in the Belmont with a Triple try on the line. Slew also was a wire-to-wire Belmont winner.
Baffert became the second trainer to win the Triple Crown twice, having overseen American Pharoah.
“It never gets old,” Baffert said. “American Pharoah, he’ll always be my first love.”
At 52, Smith became the oldest jockey to win the Triple Crown. He celebrated by grabbing white carnations from the winner’s blanket and tossing them in the air.
“He just puts an old man out there to sit still, who stays out of the way and lets a good horse be a good horse,” Smith said, crediting Baffert for using him.
Back in New York where he dominated in the 1990s, Smith took Justify on a walk past the packed grandstand, soaking in the cheers and giving the crowd a closer look at racing’s newest hero.
Justify’s victory gives racing its second Triple Crown winner of the decade. The last time there were two Triple Crown champions in the same decade was the 1970s, which produced Secretariat, Seattle Slew and Affirmed.
Purchased for $500,000, Justify earned $800,000 for his Belmont win, giving him $3,798,000 in his brief career.
Sent off as the 4-5 favorite, Justify ran 1½ miles — the longest race of the series — in 2:28.18 and paid $3.60, $3.50 and $2.80.
“This horse ran a tremendous race, he’s so gifted,” Smith said.
“He’s sent from heaven. I tell you, he’s just an amazing horse.”