ELMONT, N.Y. – As the field walked toward the starting gate for Saturday’s Belmont Stakes, jockey Mike Smith, aboard Triple Crown hopeful Justify, looked up to the heavens. A big smile came across his face, as if he knew what was about to happen.
“I felt very good,” Smith said. “The weather cooled down, the wind kind of came, I felt so good. I couldn’t wait for the doors to open.”
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.
Justify continued a strong record for favorites in the Belmont Stakes with his Triple Crown-clinching victory Saturday evening.
Justify returned $3.60 on a $2 win ticket, and $3.50 and $2.80, respectively, to place and show. He is the 63rd winning favorite in the 150-year victory of the Belmont Stakes, the oldest and longest American classic.
Closing runner-up Gronkowski paid $13.80 and $7, while Hofburg returned $3.70 to show. The $1 exacta returned $44.50, while a 50-cent trifecta returned $114.87.
ELMONT, N.Y. – On Feb. 18, Justify made his first start. On Saturday, he made his sixth. The number of days since is 111. In other words, won, won, won.
He won the Kentucky Derby. He won the Preakness. And on Saturday, before an appreciative crowd at Belmont Park, Justify led every step of the 150th Belmont Stakes, becoming the 13th horse to sweep the Triple Crown, the second this decade, the second to do so while undefeated, but the first to do so without ever having raced at age 2.
The following is a list of DRF resources and content related to the Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park on Saturday, June 9.
Justify wins Belmont Stakes, becomes 13th Triple Crown winner
ELMONT, N.Y. - Bee Jersey jumped into the deep end of the pool and made quite the splash, holding off multiple graded stakes winner Mind Your Biscuits to take Saturday’s Grade 1, $1.2 million Metropolitan Handicap by a nose at balmy Belmont Park.
ELMONT, New York – Disco Partner’s favorite dance is The Jaipur.
His flying finish fell a neck and one horse short of victory in 2016, but for the second year in a row Disco Partner’s people got a taste of Saturday afternoon fever when Disco Partner won the Grade 2, $400,000 Jaipur Invitational on the Belmont Stakes undercard.
Disco Partner and jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. rallied up the rail for a half-length win in 2017, but this year they came over the top, tagging Conquest Tsunami in the final half-furlong and going on to a one-length victory.
ELMONT, N.Y. – Prince Lucky was not being considered for the $150,000 Easy Goer Stakes on Saturday at Belmont Park, but a June 2 workout convinced trainer Todd Pletcher to give the race a try. Prince Lucky responded by running the best race of his eight-start career to win a three-horse photo finish under jockey John Velazquez.
After the June 2 work “we decided he was in sharp form and that we’d take a shot,” Pletcher said.
