Justify held off a strong push from Gronkowski, Vino Rosso and his stable mate Restoring Hope to become the 13th Triple Crown winner in horse racing history on Saturday at the 150th Belmont Stakes. Jockey Mike Smith brought the horse out strong and led from the opening gate to the finish line to become the first Triple Crown winner since American Pharoah in 2015.
The last odds-on favorite to win the Belmont out of the No. 1 position was A.P. Indy all the way back in 1992 and the sixth Triple Crown winner to win out of the No. 1 spot at Belmont.
Skies got a bit overcast at post time, but Justify won wire-to-wire with a stunning pace and a historic run.
Here’s a full race replay from NBC Sports:
Witness history!
Justify becomes the 13th horse to win the #TripleCrown! Watch the full #BelmontStakes race replay, presented by @rocketmortgage. pic.twitter.com/NA6MkfWBdY
— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) June 9, 2018
Justify and stable mate Restoring Hope set the early pace with Bravazo and Noble Indy. Vino Rosso made the strongest challenge to Justify at the mile mark, but Justify pulled away and held off a hard-charging Gronkowski with Hofburg third.
Bob Baffert became the second trainer to win the Triple Crown twice and Justify becomes the first undefeated Triple Crown winner.
“What a blessing on this wonderful day. This horse is so gifted, he’s sent from Heaven,” said the 52-year-old Smith. “I think I belong in the Horse Racing Hall of Fame now. He was so still in the gate, I wasn’t sure if he was going to break today but wow, he sure did.”
“It’s just amazing, I’m so proud to be an American, very emotional and a lot of help upstairs,” Baffert said. “It never gets old. American Pharoah was my first love, but wow, Mike Smith deserves something like this. This horse is just amazing, he could have won every race on the undercard today.”
RACE BREAKDOWN
Fast quarter in 23.37, 48.11 half mile, 1:13.21 three quarters with a 1:38.09 mile before the stretch.
Finishing order:
1 Justify
6 Gronkowski
3 Hofburg
8 Vino Rosso
7 Tenfold
3 Bravazo
2 Free Drop Billy
5 Restoring Hope
10 Blended Citizen
9 Noble Indy
150TH BELMONT STAKES RESULTS
Here’s a look at the official results:
TOTAL PAYOUTS
Here’s the payouts:
HISTORICAL PAYOUTS
Here’s a look at the historical payouts since 1997 from Boyd’s Bets (the link will give payouts dating back to 1940).
TOTAL PURSE
The purse for the Belmont Stakes is $1.5 million and will be divided among the top eight finishers in the race.
The Belmont Stakes winner wins $800,000, while the second place finisher gets $280,000 and third place gets $150,000.
The winning jockey collects 10 percent of the owner’s take, meaning he would earn $80,000. The second and third place jockeys get five percent of their owner’s earnings. That only tallies to $14,000 for the second place jockey and $7,500 for third.
Justify’s ownership team will earn $2.94 million for the three races. They will not win any type of bonus for a Triple Crown victory.
1st – Justify – $800,000
2nd – Gronkowski – $280,000
3rd – Hofburg – $150,000
4th – Vino Rosso – $100,000
5th – Tenfold – $60,000
6th – Bravazo – $45,000
7th – Free Drop Billy – $35,000
8th – Restoring Hope – $30,000
HOW DID THE EXPERTS DO?
Here’s a look at how the experts panel from Hello Race Fans fared for the full Belmont Stakes day. Nine of the 26 members of the panel picked Justify as the winner.
