Justify makes history with Belmont S. (G1) win
Justify certified his place in racing immortality when he won 150th Belmont S. (G1), defeating Gronkowski by nearly to length to become the 13th winner of the historic Triple Crown.
Justify is just the second undefeated Triple Crown winner in history, joining the incomparable Seattle Slew, who accomplished the feat in 1977. Saturday’s win made Bob Baffert one of only two trainers to accomplish the feat. “Sunny Jim” Fitzsimmons was the first with Gallant Fox in 1930 and Omaha in 1935.
Like he did in both his Kentucky Derby (G1) and Preakness S. (G1) wins, Justify found his way to the front soon after the start of the Belmont and never looked back, turning away any challenge to take the “Test of the Champion” by nearly two lengths.
“This horse ran a tremendous race. He’s so gifted,” said Justify’s Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith. “He’s sent from heaven. I tell you, it’s just amazing. I can’t describe the emotions going through my body right now.”
“The great ones, they just find another gear,” Baffert said of Justify after watching the colt draw away to his win “He is a magnificent animal.”
Baffert’s two previous Belmont winners, American Pharoah and Point Given, both went on to win Horse of the Year honors. Justify likely cemented his place alongside his “stablemates” with Saturday’s win.