Posted on 06/09/2018 11:15:16 AM PDT by TaxPayer2000
Can Justify win the Triple Crown after taking the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness?
The 150th running of the Belmont Stakes is set for Saturday, and a Triple Crown is on the line with Justify coming off wins in the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes. The race is set to get underway with a post time of 6:37 p.m. ET.
Television coverage of the race will be carried by NBC, which begins pre-race coverage at 5 p.m. Further pre-race coverage can be found at NBC Sports from 3 p.m. Online streaming of the race will be handled by NBC Sports or a streaming service that carries NBC, such as fuboTV.
The Grade I stakes race with a purse of $1.5 million obviously has a lot on the line, including nine other horses that want nothing more than to ruin Justify’s chance at the Triple Crown. The last Triple Crown winner was American Pharoah in 2015, and before that a total of 37 years went by without a horse winning the Derby, Preakness, and Belmont in a row.
Justify will start from the first post, which isn’t necessarily an advantage, but there have been 23 winners from said post in the past. Bravazo and Hofburg, widely considered the top competition for Justify, will start third and fourth, respectively.
Bob Baffert is Justify’s trainer, while Mike Smith is the jockey. Baffert also trained American Pharoah in 2015.
Below, you can see the full post position lineup for the 10-horse field.
2018 Belmont Stakes post positions
1. Justify 2. Free Drop Billy 3. Bravazo 4. Hofburg 5. Restoring Hope 6. Gronkowski 7. Tenfold 8. Vino Rosso 9. Noble Indy 10. Blended Citizen
And below is all you need to know to watch the action.
Date: Saturday, June 9
Location: Belmont Park, Elmont, New York
Post time: 6:37 p.m. (approx)
TV: NBC (from 5 p.m., more pre-race coverage on NBCSN from 3 p.m.)
Online Streaming: NBC Sports, fuboTV
Congrats to Justify and to Mike Smith.
“First and foremost I thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ....” ~~ Mike Smith after winning the Triple Crown 2018
I just posted that, on another thread.
Amen, amen!!
Secretariat lost a race after the Triple Crown because he had a low grade fever. They never should have run him.
Horses most usually improve as they age and mature (even elder triple crown winners defeat younger). Horses usually have a short racing life if they are very successful or prematurely injured. It is much more lucrative and risk averse to breed than to race (the insurance alone for the latter is astronomical). Justify’s sire was a wonderfully successful stud (i.e. he had four sons in this year’s Kentucky Derby), so I’m sure Justify especially will be retired sooner than later as they want to perpetuate those genes.
A true man of God and my all time favorite jock. So deserving of being in the TC club.
Wow, interesting. Yeah, that would kind of mar his Triple Crown winning.
Well, not really because he won so spectacularly. But it’s something people will still talk about decades later :-(
Count Fleet won the Belmont by 25 lengths...also pretty amazing.
I had to look up who he was. Very impressive!
Man O War won by 100 lengths. Not the Belmont. I haven’t researched enough yet to verify that, but I remember reading once. He also wore heavy shoes and they used to load him down with extra weight to give other hirses a chance to win.
that seems incredibly unfair! i guess that’s why there are statues of him. was he just very large?
i know little about horse racing (obviously!)
but after the jockey’s and trainer’s first statements after the win, i’ll have to get more involved
The first thing Mike Smith said when interviewed was he wanted to thank his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Then the first thing the trainer said was he’s so proud to be an American and they got help from the Lord above.
SO different from football!
I was wrong again.
Man O War was just incredible. He and Secretariat appear to be the horses most are judged by. But Count Fleet was pretty amazing, too, and the marvelous little Sea Biscuit. Sea Biscuit’s story is fascinating. If you haven’t seen the movie about him, treat yourself.
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