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WALLY HALL: Make room for horse racing's newest legend

Dust off the top shelf for another Triple Crown winner.

And add a special place for trainer Bob Baffert, who has pulled off this incredible feat twice in the past four years after thoroughbred racing went 37 years without a horse who could win all three legs of the Triple Crown.

As expected, they came from far and wide and bought souvenir $2 win tickets. Those tickets will sell for more on eBay than they were worth at the windows.

Justify went wire to wire with jockey Mike Smith riding his horse perfectly, and at age 52 Smith became the oldest jockey to win the Triple Crown.

All nine contenders gave it their best shot but were turned into pretenders when Justify came out of the No. 1 pole position at 5:51 p.m. Saturday, made the lead, ran like he was out for a jog and was unconcerned about anything other than finishing where he started -- first.

Thoroughbred racing's second greatest moment is when a horse has won the first two legs of the Triple Crown and is aiming at immortality in the race dubbed the test of champions.

The Belmont Stakes, the final jewel in racing's crown, had the good fortune to interest millions when Justify took the track for the 150th running of this race, taking on nine dreamers who hoped to knock off the champion.

Stablemate Restoring Hope ran just behind him, like a presidential bodyguard, for 6 furlongs before backing off and letting Vino Rosso, then Gronkowski try and overtake Justify. Smith showed the whip but didn't use it until they were comfortably in the stretch, and his whip was handing out love taps.

Justify ran back to the form he used when he dominated the Kentucky Derby -- always racing's biggest event -- and much stronger than his performance when he captured the Preakness against fast-closing Bravazo and Tenfold.

Undefeated as a 3-year-old, and unraced as a 2-year-old, it may have been his final race. A deal most likely has been struck for breeding rights.

A year ago, all the folks at WinStar Farms -- co-owners with China Horse Club -- knew was Justify was going to be big and seemed to have talent, but training and maturity weren't of interest to him. Triple Crown was never mentioned in the same sentence as Justify.

Sired by Scat Daddy, even Baffert thought the good folks at WinStar had sent him a turf sprinter. Why else would they have waited until late fall to ship him to the Hall of Fame trainer?

Baffert first assigned Justify to Los Alamitos, his track for second-teamers, but before Christmas it all started coming together for Justify. His works were eye-opening, and he suddenly couldn't wait to train.

That got him moved to Santa Anita before the end of the year, but even then McKinzie was the headliner with his perfect record. But on March 10 in the San Felipe Stakes, McKinzie finished second and came out injured.

Just like that, Justify became Baffert's Derby horse. The horse would get the majority of his attention, and he rocked in his first race, winning by more than 9 lengths and running a 100 Beyer figure.

His second race was a 104 Beyer figure and a win by more than 6 lengths, then in the Santa Anita Derby he ran a 114 and won by 3 lengths.

As expected, he was the shining star of a Triple Crown that first was won in 1919 when Sir Barton swept the three races. Only 11 others had been able to copy that success.

On Saturday, Justify was the 13th horse to race to the top shelf of thoroughbred racing.

Sports on 06/10/2018

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