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Watch Justify win the Triple Crown with Belmont Stakes 2018 (Video)

By Staff

ELMONT, NY - JUNE 09: Justify #1, ridden by jockey Mike Smith leads the field to the finish line to win the 150th running of the Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park on June 9, 2018 in Elmont, New York. Justify becomes the thirteenth Triple Crown winner and the first since American Pharoah in 2015. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
ELMONT, NY - JUNE 09: Justify #1, ridden by jockey Mike Smith leads the field to the finish line to win the 150th running of the Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park on June 9, 2018 in Elmont, New York. Justify becomes the thirteenth Triple Crown winner and the first since American Pharoah in 2015. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images) /
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Relive the Belmont Stakes race and Justify’s historic Triple Crown victory.

First, he won the Kentucky Derby. Then, he won the Preakness Stakes. On Saturday, June 9, Justify started the Belmont Stakes as the heavy favorite — both to win the New York race and to become the second Triple Crown winner in four years since American Pharoah won in 2015. History was on the line. Justify came through and for the third time, it wasn’t really close.

The Belmont was the first of the three races to be run on a fast track on a sunny day — meaning, no mud, no rain, no fog. It’s also the longest race of the Triple Crown, though jockey Mike Smith asserted before the race that it was one of Justify’s favorite tracks.

Justify led for the entire race but at times it was a short lead, with Vino Rosso and later Gronkowski — the English horse in which the New Englands Patriot has part ownership — hot on his tail. Ultimately, the title was never really in doubt and Justify became the 13th Triple Crown winner in history.

Watch Justify win the Belmont Stakes — and the Triple Crown in the process — below.

Before the race, the odds for the ten horses running the Preakness were as follows:

1. Justify (Mike Smith), 4-5
2. Free Drop Billy (Robby Albarado), 30-1
3. Bravazo (Luis Saez), 8-1
4. Hofburg (Irad Ortiz Jr.), 9-2
5. Restoring Hope (Florent Geroux), 30-1
6. Gronkowski (Jose Ortiz), 12-1
7. Tenfold (Victor Espinoza), 12-1
8. Vino Rosso (John Velazquez), 30-1
9. Noble Indy (Javier Castellano), 12-1
10. Blended Citizen (Kyle Frey), 15-1

The first place team will take home $900,000 of the $1.5 million purse, while second, third, fourth and fifth place finishes yielded $300,000, $165,000, $90,000 and $45,000, respectively. Trainers and jockeys typically get a 5 percent cut while the winning trainer and jockey take home 10 percent.

Next: The official drink of every Triple Crown race, explained

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