Looking like a horse who'd been training on Big Sandy all his life, Justify turned in an absolutely eye-catching 1 1/2-mile gallop in his first tour of the Belmont Park oval on Thursday morning.
The list is short, a mere 12, reflecting the difficult achievement of winning three races in five weeks at three different tracks in three different states at three different distances, the requirements of sweeping the Triple Crown.
With a 13th Triple Crown on the line, it's a perfect time to check in with Jack Whitaker, the Renaissance broadcaster who was doing the Belmont Stakes on CBS when most homes still suffered through prime time on black-and-white Zenith consoles.
While a different group of 3-year-olds vies for the victory in the oldest and longest American classic each year, one horse has been a consistent presence in the recent history of the Belmont Stakes, and that is Tapit.
Ricardo Santana Jr. watched from the jockeys' room at Churchill Downs as Creator outfinished Destin to win the 2016 Belmont Stakes by a nose. “I was a little upset,” said Santana, who had ridden Creator in his four previous starts, including a victory in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby and an eighth in the Kentucky Derby. “I was on that horse.”
Over recent years the number of female members in the Jockeys' Guild has hovered around 8 percent or 9 percent. Little wonder then, that such a small segment of a given population would have produced only four women that have ridden in a Triple Crown race during the quarter-century since Julie Krone won the Belmont Stakes with Colonial Affair.
Justify, who will make a Triple Crown bid in Saturday’s 150th Belmont Stakes, arrived at Belmont Park on Wednesday at approximately 2:15 p.m. Eastern after a flight from Kentucky, where he had been based since his victory in the Preakness Stakes.
One victorious lap around Belmont Park’s main track stands between Justify and the ultimate goal of becoming racing’s 13th Triple Crown winner. The TimeformUS Pace Projector indicates that Justify is faster in the early stages than the nine other colts contesting this Belmont Stakes, and is capable of opening up an advantage heading into the clubhouse turn.
Mike Welsch's 2018 Belmont Stakes analysis.
