All eyes were on Justify. The thoroughbred defied the odds on his way to achieving the Triple Crown, winning the final leg at the Belmont Stakes on Saturday.
Justify’s victory gave the sport its 13th Triple Crown champion. American Pharoah ended a 37-year drought in 2015. Now just four years later, racing is celebrating another sweep of the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Belmont.
Justify began his racing career on February 18—just 77 days before the Kentucky Derby. He won his first three races by a combined 19 lengths, making trainer Bob Baffert a believer.
The big chestnut colt seemed to come out of nowhere. He burst onto the national scene with a 2½-length victory on a sloppy track in the Derby. Two weeks later, he survived a challenge in the fog-shrouded Preakness, winning by a half-length.
On a cloudy 80-degree day at Belmont Park, Justify proved a cool customer. He didn’t flinch when greeted by 90,327 roaring fans as he entered the track. He stood so quietly in the starting gate that jockey Mike Smith wondered if he’d respond when it sprang open.
Did he ever.
Justify led all the way in achieving one of the sports world’s toughest feats 45 years to the day that Secretariat won the Belmont by a record 31 lengths. Baffert called Justify one of the all-time greats. His jockey agreed.
“I think he’s the greatest of all time,” Smith said. “I just won the Triple Crown, man. He’s my champion.”
Justify’s human handlers also made history.
Baffert became only the second trainer to win the Triple Crown twice, having overseen American Pharoah. James “Sunny Jim” Fitzsimmons guided Gallant Fox in 1930 and Omaha in 1935.
At 52, Smith became the oldest jockey to win the Triple Crown. He celebrated by grabbing white carnations from the winner’s blanket and tossing them in the air.
Justify’s victory gives racing its second Triple Crown winner of the decade. The last time there were two Triple Crown champions in the same decade was the 1970s, which produced Secretariat, Seattle Slew, and Affirmed.
Read God’s description of His creation of the horse in Job 39:19-25.
(AP Photo: Justify, with jockey Mike Smith, crosses the finish line to win the 150th running of the Belmont Stakes horse race and the Triple Crown, Saturday, June 9, 2018, in Elmont, New York.)
