Belmont Stakes 2015 Payout: Prize Money, Purse and Triple Crown Order of Finish

The drought is over. And frankly, from the opening gun to the final stretch, it was never in doubt.

After a 37-year wait, American Pharoah beat the field Saturday evening to become the first horse since Affirmed in 1978 to win the Triple Crown. 

Below, we'll take a look at the full results, payouts and prize money and then recap the dramatic race. 

Final Results

Place	No.	Horse	Jockey	Trainer	Prize Money
1	5	American Pharoah	Victor Espinoza	Bob Baffert	$800,000
2	6	Frosted	Joel Rosario	Kiaran McLaughlin	$280,000
3	7	Keen Ice	Kent Desormeaux	Dale Romans	$150,000
4	1	Mubtaahij	Irad Ortiz Jr.	Mike de Kock	$100,000
5	4	Frammento	Mike Smith	Nick Zito	$60,000
6	3	Madefromlucky	Javier Castellano	Todd Pletcher	$45,000
7	2	Tale of Verve	Gary Stevens	Dallas Stewart	$35,000
8	8	Materiality	John Velazquez	Todd Pletcher	$30,000

Purse Payouts 

Horse	Win	Place	Show
American Pharoah	$3.50	$2.80	$2.50
Frosted	---	$3.50	$2.90
Keen Ice	---	---	$4.60

Recap

Coming into this race, American Pharoah was justifiably the favorite. He beat a tough field to win the Kentucky Derby and dominated the Preakness. The field at the Belmont Stakes seemed to be a weak one, with only eight horses.

No, there was never the belief that the race wouldn't present its challenges—possible fatigue for the horse, a field of opponents that were far fresher than Pharoah, the simple possibility of the horse having an off day—but the stage seemed set for American Pharoah to make history. 

And man, did he do it in dominant fashion. 

Despite a less-than-stellar start, Victor Espinoza quickly guided Pharoah to the rail and ahead of the pack, where he would stay for the duration of the race. Pharoah established a comfortable pace and barely seemed to break a sweat, turning on the jets at the end of the final turn. 

Not even 37 years of disappointment behind him was going to slow Pharoah. He blew away the field down the stretch, making horse racing's most difficult achievement seem like nothing more than a Sunday stroll.

Indeed, he joins a select group of Triple Crown winners who have won the Belmont in wire-to-wire fashion, per ESPN Stats & Information:

For trainer Bob Baffer, the fourth time was the charm:

Mike Klis of 9News.com was happy for Baffert:

"

Bob Baffert deserved it. Trainer that great deserves the Triple Crown

— Mike Klis (@MikeKlis) June 6, 2015"

Of course, the famous trainer couldn't help but be deferential to his horse after the race, per Kelly Whiteside of USA Today: 

It was a magical performance. No, it wasn't as dominant as Secretariat's 31-length win in the 1973 Belmont Stakes. No, Pharoah didn't set the records for each Triple Crown race like Secretariat did. But Pharoah did blow away the field in two consecutive Triple Crown races in a climate that makes the achievement much more difficult now than it was 42 years ago.

That, along with the fact that Pharoah ended the longest drought in Triple Crown history, will be the horse's legacy. It's possible, after all, that we won't see this achievement again for quite some time, especially as more and more trainers pick and choose which Triple Crown races they want their horses to run. 

It also remains to be seen how the sport will fare now that its most marketable aspect—the pursuit of the elusive Triple Crown—has been accomplished. The history-making day surely created more fans of the sport, but with the drought over, neutrals may be less inclined to follow horse racing in the future. 

It's hard to know for sure. But that's a conversation for another day. On this day, American Pharoah made history and became racing royalty befitting of his name. 

All hail the Pharoah.