Belmont Stakes 2015 Results: Times, Payouts for American Pharoah, Top Contenders
The 2015 Belmont Stakes is set to go down as one of the most important races in the history of horse racing. The winner, American Pharoah, put to rest all the talk about a 37-year Triple Crown drought with his victory Saturday and breathed life into a sport that, for the most part, doesn't receive the national attention it used to.
It was a sight to behold, and the fact that the race's final result was never in doubt makes it just that much more impressive. When it was all said and done, Pharoah covered the track called "Big Sandy" at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York, in a time of 2:26.65—a time that ranks as the sixth fastest in the race's storied history, per Jonathan Lintner of the Courier-Journal.
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
It's sad, but Pharoah's career is going to come to an end at the conclusion this season. So, before we look forward at what's to come, let's take one last look back at our latest Triple Crown winner in the 147th running of the Belmont Stakes.
Final Order of Finish
| 1 | 5 | American Pharoah | Victor Espinoza | Bob Baffert | -- |
| 2 | 6 | Frosted | Joel Rosario | Kiaran McLaughlin | 5 1/2 |
| 3 | 7 | Keen Ice | Kent Desormeaux | Dale Romans | 7 1/2 |
| 4 | 1 | Mubtaahij | Irad Ortiz Jr. | Michael De Kock | 7 3/4 |
| 5 | 4 | Frammento | Mike Smith | Nick Zito | 15 1/4 |
| 6 | 3 | Madefromlucky | Javier Castellano | Todd Pletcher | 17 3/4 |
| 7 | 2 | Tale of Verve | Gary Stevens | Dallas Stewart | 20 1/2 |
| 8 | 8 | Materiality | John Velazquez | Todd Pletcher | 22 1/2 |
Payouts
| American Pharoah | $3.50 | $2.80 | $2.50 |
| Frosted | -- | $3.50 | $2.90 |
| Keen Ice | -- | -- | $4.60 |
Race Replay
Materiality
Materiality was the third choice among bettors, and the three-year-old son of Afleet Alex laid an absolute dud in the Belmont.
The young colt got out to a pretty easy pressing position after breaking cleanly from the gate and looked as though he would get the first crack at Pharoah. That said, anybody who expected him to make a move and challenge Pharoah is still sitting around and waiting for it to happen.
As resident B/R horse racing expert Brendan O'Meara noted in a piece following the race, Materiality was one of the biggest—if not the biggest—loser.
He broke cleanly, but for whatever reason, the young colt—under a steady ride from Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez—never even made a pass at AP.
It was a disappointing showing from a colt who was supposed to be a real threat to AP's Triple Crown aspirations.
Frosted
Frosted was the second betting choice on Saturday, and unlike Materiality, the young colt met expectations with his second-place finish.
To his credit, Frosted ran an outstanding race. The Tapit colt ran two wide in fifth position through the backstretch run before making his move just before the quarter pole.
Frosted jumped up and grabbed hold of second place, but he was never closer than two lengths at any point in the race. Frosted had high expectations as well, and many, myself included, thought he had a legitimate shot to win the race.
Though he wasn't able to do so, he did prove that his hard-closing performance in the Derby wasn't a mistake either.
His rider, Joel Rosario, praised his horse's effort in a press release following the race, stating that, per BelmontStakes.com: "My horse ran really great and we got second place. It's exciting because we have not seen this for so long and the winner really looked brilliant. My horse showed that he is a really nice horse and there will be lots of races down the road for him."
Frosted ran easily the best race of any horse in this field not named American Pharoah—Keen Ice also ran a very good race—and he's shown us a bit of what to expect from him moving forward.
American Pharoah
It's hard to say enough about how well American Pharoah ran on Saturday. The superstar colt bobbled at the start a little bit, but by the first marker, AP had jumped out to a one-length lead in 24.06 seconds.
This trend continued through the backstretch run, where Pharoah and Victor Espinoza worked through the ensuing quarters in 24.77, 24.58 and 24.34 seconds, respectively. That fourth quarter in 24.34 seconds brought the pack through the one-mile marker, with Pharoah holding a 1 ½-length lead over Materiality.
Pharoah continued his dominance by widening his lead out to two lengths through 1 ¼ miles and 2 ½ lengths as they entered the stretch run.
Frosted did everything he could do to get within a few lengths of Pharoah, but as AP continued to open up his lead, it was clear that the Pioneerof the Nile colt was the best.
This Belmont Stakes was unique in the fact that American Pharoah became the fifth Triple Crown winner in a row to go wire-to-wire in the Belmont, according to ESPN Stats & Info:
"#AmericanPharoah becomes 5th horse since 1948 to win #TripleCrown by leading #BelmontStakes wire-to-wire. pic.twitter.com/QJCZUUly6r
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) June 6, 2015"
Pharoah wired the field and finished the race with a 5 ½-length lead on Frosted. With seemingly impossible expectations in front of him, the three-year-old star somehow managed to exceed them.
Follow me on Twitter! Follow @TylerDuma.
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
