Justify dominated from start to finish the Belmont Stakes race to cross the finish line with almost two lengths on Saturday to become the 13th. winner of the Triple Crown of American horse racing and the second in four years.
The chestnut colt is the second undefeated to sweep Belmont Stakes, Kentucky Derby and Preakness, the competitions that make up the traditional Triple Crown, and led his mark to 6-0 on the slopes that began just on February 18 last. Seattle Slew, of which he is a descendant, is the other who finished unbeaten by winning the Triple Crown in 1977.
In front of more than 90 thousand spectators, Justify, who came as a favorite, took the lead when he left the rim and stayed ahead of nine rivals. He is the first Triple Crown winner to face so many rivals in the 1.5 mile Belmont race.
"The horse ran as we had planned and we are very happy to enter into the great history of the turf world," said Bob Baffert, his trainer. With the trifunfo he became the second coach to win the Triple Crown twice. He achieved this with American Pharoah in 2015, which ended a 37-year drought. James "Sunny Jim" Fitzsimmons guided Gallant Fox in 1930 and Omaha in 1935.
The maximum sporting glory Justify got her running for just 11 minutes 25 seconds and 62 hundredths, time necessary to win the 6 races since her debut, on February 18 last. Justify got one of the toughest exploits of the sport the same day that 45 years ago Secretariat won the Belmont for a record 31 bodies.
Justify's victory gave horse racing its second Triple Crown winner of the decade. The last time there were two Triple Crown champions in the same decade was in 1970, which produced Secretariat, Seattle Slew and Affirmed.
The powerful colt showed no sign that the rigors of complying with a compact racing schedule had affected him. He won the Kentucky Derby by two and a half lengths and then survived a half-length victory in the Preakness, both on wet and sloppy tracks.
On a fast and dry track, Justify was just as good in his third race in five weeks on his third different track.
Justify, a flamboyant Triple Crown winner, will receive a well-earned rest and then run again this year, although a date or place has not yet been set, after the colt came out of his Belmont Stakes victory in good condition.
Elliott Walden of WinStar Farm said on Sunday that the multiplayer group that controls Justify wants to share the horse with the public by running it. A plan will be formulated once the chestnut colt recovers from a compact calendar that saw him win six races for 111 days since his debut on February 18.
Among the possibilities: the Haskell Invitational on July 29 at the Monmouth Park in New Jersey with a prize of one million dollars, the Pacific Classic at Del Mar on August 18 with a bag of one million and the Travers at Saratoga on August 25 with 1.25 million dollars.
Baffert can wait to listen to the officials of several tracks anxious to attract the new star of horse racing, as he did with American Pharaoh.