Justify Wins Belmont To Become 13th Triple Crown Champion
NEW YORK (AP) — Justify led all the way to win the Belmont Stakes by 1¾ lengths and become horse racing's 13th Triple Crown champion and second in four years.
Related: Gronkowski (The Horse) Finishes Second In Belmont Stakes
The chestnut colt is the second undefeated colt to sweep the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont, improving to 6-0 in a racing career that began on Feb. 18.
Seattle Slew was unbeaten when he won the Triple Crown in 1977.
Witness history!
— NBC Sports (@NBCSports) June 9, 2018
Justify becomes the 13th horse to win the #TripleCrown! Watch the full #BelmontStakes race replay, presented by @rocketmortgage. pic.twitter.com/NA6MkfWBdY
Sent off as the 4-5 favorite, Justify went to the lead out of the starting gate and led nine rivals around the track's sweeping turns on Saturday. He's the first Triple Crown winner to face that many rivals in the 1½-mile Belmont.
Bob Baffert became the second trainer to win the Triple Crown twice. He did so with American Pharoah in 2015, ending a 37-year drought.
At 52, Mike Smith is the oldest jockey to win the Triple Crown.
Justify wins The Belmont - Triple Crown winners:
— Dan Roche (@RochieWBZ) June 9, 2018
Sir Barton (1919)
Gallant Fox (1930)
Omaha (1935)
War Admiral (1937)
Whirlaway (1941)
Count Fleet (1943)
Assault (1946)
Citation (1948)
Secretariat (1973)
Seattle Slew (1977)
Affirmed (1978)
American Pharoah(2015)
Justify (2018)
___
For more Belmont coverage: https://apnews.com/tag/Horseracing
(© Copyright 2018 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)