Belmont Stakes 2015 Payouts: Results, Purse Earnings and Race Replay from Elmont

On a June Saturday that will go down in the annals of horse racing, American Pharoah ended a generation-long wait and won the 2015 Belmont Stakes to claim the Triple Crown.

He became the 14th horse since Affirmed accomplished the feat in 1978 to enter Belmont Park aiming to complete the Triple Crown but proved able to do what those other 13 couldn't. The extra distance of the 1 ½-mile race and the supposed fresher horses did nothing to threaten American Pharoah's date with greatness.

As if winning the sport's first Triple Crown in 37 years wasn't enough, American Pharoah put an exclamation point on his performance by pulling away from the field and winning by more than five lengths. Frosted and Keen Ice's second- and third-placed finishes, respectively, were nothing but footnotes.

Without further ado, here's everything to help you relive the iconic race.

2015 Belmont Stakes Results, Purse Earnings

Place	No.	Horse	Jockey	Time/Lengths	Winnings
1	5	American Pharoah	Victor Espinoza	2:26.65	$800,000
2	6	Frosted	Joel Rosario	5 1/2	$280,000
3	7	Keen Ice	Kent Desormeaux	7 1/2	$150,000
4	1	Mubtaahij	Irad Ortiz, Jr.	7 3/4	$100,000
5	4	Frammento	Mike Smith	16 1/4	$60,000
6	3	Madefromlucky	Javier Castellano	18 3/4	$45,000
7	2	Tale of Verve	Gary Stevens	21 1/2	$35,000
8	8	Materiality	John Velazquez	23 1/4	$30,000

Post	Horse	1	2	3
5	American Pharoah	$3.50	$2.80	$2.50
6	Frosted	-----	$3.50	$2.90
7	Keen Ice	-----	-----	$4.50

The other seven horses' chances to do something about American Pharoah's place in history didn't have long to make their moves out of the gates.

AP didn't break incredibly clean out of the gate, and that seemed to open things up for a different pace-setter—not exactly the plan of the Pharoah camp. But after a few slow strides, he picked it up and surfaced as the early leader, running the opening quarter-mile at a brisk 24.06 seconds.

His lead never got extended by more than a length throughout the middle stretches of the race, but he also never showed signs of relinquishing it. A handful of horses remained in striking distance when the final turn came, but it didn't matter.

Even before the turn came, however, jockey Victor Espinoza noted his horse's desire to run free, per the New York Times' Billy Witz.

Garry Jones/Associated Press

"American Pharoah was grabbing the bridle at the five-eighths, and he want to take off," Espinoza said. "I said not yet, but in the meantime I didn’t want to take too much hold. I had to manage it and time it just right. No way I was going to let him run. I had to be patient."

Espinoza waited to push AP until the final stretch, and he showed his superiority with each passing stride. A two-length lead over Frosted and Mubtaahij ballooned to more than five. Some patrons jumped in amazement; others stood silent with their mouths wide open.

While people wondered whether Pharoah's possible fatigue would allow others to catch him down the stretch, he proved the opposite. His finishing lead was one of the most lopsided in Triple Crown history, as ESPN Stats & Info noted:

In fact, only one horse in Triple Crown racing history would have been able to beat American Pharoah given how he ran Saturday, as Eric Crawford of WDRB-Louisville said:

Having to tackle three of the sport's biggest races in a five-week span is a difficult task that has made winning the Triple Crown an elusive feat, but American Pharoah never looked likely to fall victim to it like so many in history have. Although the world witnessed it Saturday, trainer Bob Baffert had seen it for some time.

He elaborated on what makes AP special after the Belmont, per Time's Sean Gregory: "He moves like no other horse I’ve ever had. Somebody measured: His stride is two feet longer than Secretariat's. He just moves over the top of the ground. He’s quick, he’s fast and he doesn’t use a lot of energy. So that’s why he dominates."

Becoming the most popular and accomplished horse of the last four decades could push many stables to retire their colts, but Zayat Stables isn't interested in ending American Pharoah's racing days. In fact, it's already preparing to make history at the Breeders' Cup Classic, as the race's Twitter noted:

Needless to say, nothing that happens at the Breeders' Cup will have much of an impact on how American Pharoah is remembered.

He entered the forefront of the sport at one of its lowest times in terms of Triple Crown contention. Two horses in the last three years made it two-thirds of the way before I'll Have Another got scratched on the eve of the Belmont in 2012 and California Chrome sputtered to fourth place in 2014.

Many around the sport wondered if a horse would ever accomplish the feat again or if the short turnarounds and ultracompetitive nature would make it impossible to do.

American Pharoah proved those doubters wrong over the last several weeks in Kentucky, Maryland and New York, and now it's up to others in the sport to try to mimic the greatness Baffert, Espinoza and American Pharoah accomplished.