Justify Wins Preakness

Justify, the charming, blazed chestnut son of Scat Daddy made his backers feel great today.  After several days of rain, this year's 143rd Preakness was run, like the Kentucky Derby, on a sloppy track. The winner of the Derby was today's betting favorite in the eight horse field.  At the break, he and second-place Derby finisher, Good Magic, hooked up and ran eyeball to eyeball for about 7/8 of a mile.  Occasionally, one or the other colt would poke his head in front, and then the other boy would make it even again.  Finally Mike Smith asked Justify to run, and he did.  It was not a huge margin, as two other runners came from farther back to contest the finish, but Justify was the first horse at the finish line.  (See Amber Searls' - USA Today Sports - photo below.)

Justify was first, Bravazo was second, Tenfold was third, Good Magic held on for fourth, and Lone Sailor was fifth.  Of the first five finishers, Tenfold was the only horse not to race in the Derby.  The rest of the field was: Sporting Chance, sixth; Diamond King, seventh; and Quip was eighth.

   There were 134,487 people in attendance at Pimlico today, and visibility was about 1/16 of a mile.  The rain had stopped before the race, but a thick fog followed the rain.    Justify ran the 1 and 3/16 mile race in 1:55.93.

    The pay-outs for a $2 bet were as follows: Justify to win $2.80; Bravazo to place $7.60; Tenfold to show $6.80; the exacta paid $27.40; the trifecta paid $296.60; and the superfecta paid $745.00.

  Will we be graced with another Triple Crown champion?  The question will be answered on  Saturday, 9 June, at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York.  Justify will have to contend with other, perhaps fresher, horses over the mile and a half track known as the Big Sandy.

    The Belmont Stakes was first run in 1867 at the Jerome Park Racetrack in the Bronx.  Ruthless won the first running og the Belmont, which was originally 1 and 5/8 miles long.  The distance was shortened to 1 and 1/2 miles in 1973.

Justify Wins Kentucky Derby; Saxon Warrior Wins English 2,000 Guineas

The first races in both the American and British Triple Crowns were run today.  At Newmarket, in England, the 2,000 Guineas, contested at a mile on the turf, saw trainer Aidan O'Brien take his ninth victory, with Saxon Warrior.  Saxon Warrior is a bay colt by Deep Impact, and out of the Galileo mare Maybe.  Aidan O'Brien's 19-year-old son Donnacha was the jockey, while O'Brien himself was at Churchill Downs with Mendelssohn for the Kentucky Derby.  Saxon Warrior set off at odds of  3 to 1, and ran the mile over a course rated "good" in 1:36.55.  Tip To Win, a 50 to 1 long-shot, was second with Masar in third.

  In Kentucky, three inches of rain fell before the Derby and fell throughout the race.  A full starting gate of 20 colts broke nicely while a crowd of 157,813 watched. The 5 to 2 betting favorite was Justify, a chestnut son of Scat Daddy out of the mare Stage Magic.  Justify is trained by Bob Baffert, and was under the guidance of veteran jockey Mike Smith.  Justify had never raced on a sloppy track, but several other colts in the race had, and those boys had won by impressive margins.  Smith rode Justify out of the gate in a hurry, and settled about 8 paths out from the rail, with Promises Fulfilled in the lead close to the rail.  The first quarter and half-miles were run in jaw-dropping times for a sloppy track - 22.24 seconds for the first quarter, and 45.77 for the half-mile.   
   But Justify just cruised on.  He won the race in 2:04.20 - and without a speck of mud on his face or chest.  This made the fifth Kentucky Derby win for Bob Baffert, and the second for Mike Smith.  Good Magic tried to press Justify at the top of the stretch, under the whip, while Smith just sat still on Justify and pulled away.  Good Magic finished second, with Audible third, Instilled Regard fourth and My Boy Jack in fifth.  And Justify broke to so-called "Apollo curse" when he won the Derby today, becoming the first horse that did not race as a two-year-old in 136 years to win the first leg of America's Triple Crown.
   For a $2 win ticket on Justify, the return was $7.80; for a $2 place bet on Good Magic, one received $9.20; for a $2 show wager on Audible, the payout was $5.80.  Return on a $2 exacta bet was $69.60; on a $1 trifecta it was $141.40; and on a $1 superfecta, the return was $19,618.20.

The full order of finish follows:

1.     Justify     by 2 1/2 lengths

2.     Good Magic  by a nose

3.     Audible   by 2 lengths

4.     Instilled Regard

5.     My Boy Jack

6.     Bravazo

7.     Hofburg

8.     Lone Sailor

9.     Vino Rosso

10.   Solomini

11.   Firenze Fire

12.   Bolt d'Oro

13.   Flameaway

14.   Enticed

15.   Promises Fulfilled

16.   Free Drop Billy

17.   Noble Indy

18.   Combatant

19.   Magnum Moon

20.   Mendelssohn    (Aidan O'Brien's entry)