ELMONT, N. Y. – Remember when there was all this handwringing in American racing that the Triple Crown had become too tough to win? Remember when some very influential people insisted something needed to be done to bring the Triple Crown more into line with the realities of today’s game, which really was just a euphemism to dumb the Triple Crown down, and make it easier to win by doing something silly like putting more time between these races? Seems like a long time ago now, doesn’t it? But it really wasn’t that long ago. Just a handful of years, actually. Traditionalists countered by stressing that even though there had been a long drought between Triple Crown sweeps, the Triple Crown was still perfectly fine as is, and pointed to the fact that we had nine Kentucky Derby and Preakness winners alive for a sweep in the Belmont between 1997 and 2014 alone. All we needed was the right horse to come along. Well, look at how blessed we are now. We have had two of the right horses come along in just the last four years. American Pharoah ended that 37-year Triple Crown drought in 2015, And today, here at Belmont Park, only three years later, Justify, also trained by Bob Baffert, became only the 13th Triple Crown winner ever. Oh yeah, Justify also became the first-ever Triple Crown winner to have not raced as a 2-year-old. I’ll avoid the obvious joke about how I guess we’re now supposed to make the Triple Crown tougher to win. Instead, before I try to convey how amazed I am by Justify, I’ll express my hope that there will now be a 25-year prohibition of talk concerning any change to the structure of the Triple Crown. Two Triple Crown winners in four years should buy us that, at least. I hope. Now, Justify. As difficult as winning the Triple Crown is, one would think the degree of difficulty involved would increase by multiples if you’ve started your racing career as late as Feb. 18. But for Justify, the great equalizer (great with a capital “G”) is his enormous talent. He has shiploads full of it. Justify’s talent carried him to his sensational victory in the Kentucky Derby when he bounced away from his field despite engaging in a scorching pace that would have done in many a Grade 1 winner. It carried him in the Preakness on a day when he clearly did not run his best race. And it carried him in the Belmont Stakes, enabling him to overcome a sixth start in the narrow window of 111 days, the last three in the most pressure-packed situations found in American racing. Today is June 9. The year isn’t even half over. But the matter of 2018 Horse of the Year and champion 3-year-old is already a fait accompli. It speaks highly of Justify that he can suck a lot of the remaining suspense out of the season, much like American Pharoah did on Belmont Stakes night 2015. Greatness is also no longer a question when it comes to Justify. That is not to say every Triple Crown winner is or was a Mt. Olympus-type horse, because there have been a couple of shaky Triple Crown winners. It’s also not to say that Justify has done things on the track never seen before, even if his Derby performance was something else. Justify has run fast, but not otherworldly fast. He’s beaten some nice horses, but not one like an Alydar, who Affirmed had to deal with. And let’s not forget, many were reluctant to attach “great” to Seattle Slew after he swept his Triple Crown in 1977 because he beat such a weak crew that year. It wasn’t until Slew did amazing things as a 4-year-old that his greatness was fully appreciated. But what Justify has accomplished in the time he has accomplished it makes him completely, thoroughly unique. And in my book, it makes him indisputably great. Saturday notes: ** Gronkowski stunned everyone with his game second in the Belmont. He can really run. ** Hofburg also ran creditably finishing third. ** Still, I thought the Belmont was over leaving the far turn. Others might have thought it was decided earlier. Still others might have thought this Belmont was over when the overnight came out. But I thought it was a done deal when Justify spurted away into the stretch. ** After a dull effort in the La Troienne in her 4-year-old debut, Abel Tasman, last year’s champion 3-year-old filly, was certainly back on her best game in the Ogden Phipps, crushing her field with ease. A series of sharp workouts after the La Troienne suggested this turnaround might occur, but it was still nice to see it actually happen, and it puts the spark back into a potential Abel Tasman-Unique Bella (who was champion female sprinter last year at 3) clash down the road. ** Monomoy Girl is the odds-on favorite to succeed Abel Tasman and be this year’s champion 3-year-old filly. In fact, with the way she made the Acorn her third straight Grade 1 stakes score, she’s very close to, if not past, the point where she has an insurmountable lead for a divisional title. Monomoy Girl was very impressive again Saturday. She absolutely toyed with Acorn runner-up Talk Veuve to Me, and Talk Veuve to Me has loads of talent. ** A Raving Beauty is a serious turf mare. She made it 2 for 2 here in the U.S. proving best in the Just A Game after dominating the Beaugay last month in her American debut. But what I find especially intriguing about her is, even though her Just A Game and Beaugay wins came at distances of one mile and 1 1/16 miles, respectively, her back European form suggests she should have no trouble in longer races. Something like the nine furlongs of Saratoga’s Diana figures to be well within her scope. ** Like any discerning racing fan, I love the Met Mile. This running wasn’t one of the best. But what it may have lacked in terms of quality depth, it made up for it in entertainment value as Bee Jersey just held off a determined Mind Your Biscuits in a photo. Don’t get me wrong. Bee Jersey is a very nice colt who is now 5 for 6 here in the U.S., but it’s still an open question as to how good he really is. I’m still not sold on the company he has kept. I will admit, however, Mind Your Biscuits ran much better than I anticipated. As solid as he has been up to seven furlongs, I thought he was very questionable going the mile. ** The male turf division is in disarray right now. We do have the intriguing Yoshida, but he has to show he can put two big wins together, and defending champ World Approval needs to rebound from a poor last race. The Manhattan could have helped clarify matters. Instead, it only served to muddy the waters. Beach Patrol, a prominent member of the division going in, did not run well after a wide trip. In the meantime, the Manhattan literally tied into a knot the final sixteenth of a mile, and Spring Quality, who couldn’t keep up with the rallying Sadler’s Joy on the far turn, still managed to nail Sadler’s Joy in time after the latter seemed to idle once striking the front late. In the end, there were about eight horses all bunched together at the wire, and as most already know, that is usually a bad sign in terms of strength of race. Right now, this division looks ripe for the taking by any capable new face, particularly ones from Europe. ** Spring Quality, at 18-1, was the second straight upset winner of the Manhattan for trainer Graham Motion, who sent out Ascend to win last year’s running at 27-1. Friday notes: ** I’m not going to hold Sistercharlie’s narrow loss in the New York Stakes Fourstar Crook against her. For starters, the race was bizarrely run, with two run-off speed horses opening up about 24 lengths on the rest of the field down the backstretch. And then, it appeared Sistercharlie was steadied and blocked behind horses on the inside late on the backstretch despite still being the trailer at that point. Sistercharlie was the top female turf horse in the land going into the New York off her sensational victory in the Jenny Wiley in her first start this year. I believe she still is. ** By the way, Sistercharlie, Fourstar Crook, and A Raving Beauty are all trained by Chad Brown. Of course. ** I was surprised Imperial Hint was sent off the favorite in the True North. So many bettors seemed to be against him, myself included, because his first two performances this year were a decided cut below the excellent form he displayed last year, when he was a sharp second in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint. Equally surprising was how Imperial Hint won, successfully rating farther off the early pace than he ever had before at this level of competition. But Imperial Hint’s game score over Whitmore says he’s back to being a major player in the male sprint division. ** The male turf division, which can use some quality depth as noted above, gained a potentially significant addition when Almanaar returned from a 16-month absence to win an overnight race by a handy neck. Almanaar has a license to be a divisional player. Before he went to the sidelines early last year, he beat the strong 2017 version of Beach Patrol in the Grade 1 Gulfstream Park Turf Handicap.