Triple Crown 2018: Examining Justify's Historic Success

History was made on Saturday when Justify beat Gronkowski by 1 ¾ lengths to win the 2018 Belmont Stakes and become only the 13th horse to ever clinch the Triple Crown.

The three-year-old recorded one of the rarest feats in American flat racing in just the sixth race of his career, looking as confident at Belmont Park as he did in his Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes victories, via NBC:

As was the blueprint to success in those outings, Justify once again got out ahead of his competition early in Elmont, New York, and made full use of his No. 1 post position, essentially leading from start to finish en route to the crown.

Trainer Bob Baffert has now completed the Triple Crown for the second time in three years and joins rare company in doing so, per broadcaster Angelo Di Carlo:

In-form Justify was always going to be difficult to stop coming to Elmont, but any hopes the other nine runners had of keeping him from the Triple Crown appeared to fizzle after he drew a favourable post at the rail.

After outlasting the early competition provided by the second of Baffert's entrants, Restoring Hope, jockey Mike Smith steered an almost faultless ride and won in two minutes, 28.18 seconds.

That was the fastest Belmont Stakes time since American Pharoah gave Baffert his first Triple Crown success in 2015 when he finished in 2:26.65.

The result is all the trainer camp will care about, regardless of how it came to be, although ESPN's Darren Rovell juxtaposed what was eventually a rather slim win for Justify against the record-fastest run of legend Secretariat:

But judging the undefeated Justify based on how he sizes up to former greats would be unfair, particularly as it doesn't seem to have affected his value.

ESPN (h/t Reuters) reported how, following Saturday's Triple Crown confirmation, Coolmore stables purchased Justify's breeding rights for a cool $60 million to go along with the $15 purse he's said to have raked in at Belmont Park.

He may have missed out on matching Secretariat in terms of Saturday's display, but Justify has trumped all that came before him as a result of the lucrative deal:

It's to be expected after Justify's dominant run took him to six wins from six starts, and both Baffert and Smith were eager to laud the quality of his rare talent, via ESPN:

Smith enjoyed an almost perfect ride and was able to keep those trailing him at bay, but it says a lot about Justify that Belmont's field of 10 was also the largest ever to produce a Triple Crown champion.

So while his ruthless streak may not size up to certain Triple Crown winners of the past, Justify has proved a unique asset in his own right and now faces a different career path in light of joining a most elite club on Saturday.