Lying in a hospital bed in Iowa, Marlon St. Julien had just finished watching Justify take the Belmont Stakes last Saturday to become the 13th winner of the Triple Crown. He was tired, emotionally drained, and the meds were kicking in. As he began to drift, St. Julien heard the familiar voice of his pal, Mike Smith, and he smiled, at peace with the fact that despite his own situation something very good in racing had just happened. Then this:

Justify’s Beyer Speed Figures from the Triple Crown were a 103 in the Kentucky Derby, a 97 in the Preakness, and a 101 in the Belmont Stakes. Before we get into historical comparisons, including the 2015 Triple Crown run by American Pharoah, let’s discuss how figures are made in general and how Justify’s figures were made specifically.

At some point in the relatively recent past, it was decided that horses can no longer do what Justify has done, and therefore, what Justify has done is amazing. And yet horses once could do what Justify has done, if not in the literal sense of winning six races in 111 days at the beginning of a career, ending at the apogee of the sport, then in the spirit of Derby and Preakness winner Carry Back running nine races at 3 before hitting a wall in the Belmont, or of Tim Tam, who raced once at 2 and then 12 times at 3 before going wrong in his attempt to win the Triple Crown.

ELMONT, N.Y. – The year may not even be half over, but in the race for Horse of the Year, it’s over.

Justify is the fifth Triple Crown winner since the Eclipse Award era began in 1971, and all four previous Triple Crown winners during that span – Secretariat in 1973, Seattle Slew in 1977, Affirmed in 1978, and American Pharoah in 2015 – were voted Horse of the Year, regardless of whether the second half of their 3-year-old year was brilliant or, in the case of Seattle Slew, a washout. Of course, all four also were named champion 3-year-old male those years.

The bloom is off the carnations.

Four years after California Chrome’s unsuccessful quest for the Triple Crown shattered handle records and produced stratospheric television ratings, and three years after American Pharoah ended a 37-year Triple Crown drought and was draped with the blanket of carnations awarded to the Belmont Stakes winner, this year’s Triple Crown win by Justify underwhelmed, at least when considering the raw business numbers.

ELMONT, N.Y. - As Triple Crown winner Justify's connections mull his future, the trainers of the 3-year-olds left in the wake of his Belmont Stakes and Triple Crown victories Saturday are honing in on a summer campaign that is likely to see some of them compete in the $1.25 million Travers Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 25.

ELMONT, N.Y. - The manner in which Florent Geroux rode Restoring Hope in Saturday’s Belmont Stakes - won by his stablemate Justify, who completed a Triple Crown sweep - was a source of frustration and ire for some horsemen involved in the race.

The overnight rating for the Belmont Stakes broadcast on NBC on Saturday peaked at an 8.1 with a 19 share, a strong number for any sports broadcast but well below the overnight figures posted for the past two Triple Crown bids in 2015 and 2014.

ELMONT, N.Y. – A lot was thrown at Justify over the past four months, but he handled it all in unprecedented fashion, and on Sunday, trainer Bob Baffert said Justify had emerged from his Triple Crown-clinching victory in the Belmont Stakes on Saturday in good condition and was “ready to go.”

Total betting on the Belmont Stakes this year, the first year a Triple Crown was on the line since American Pharoah’s 2015 Belmont, was $79.7 million, according to a chart of the race, a 68 percent gain on handle for the race last year but short of the amount of money bet three years ago.