Why Justify ranks among the best Triple Crown winners

It always takes a special horse to complete the American Triple Crown sweep. Three races over the course of five weeks, all at different locations and ranging from 1 3/16 to 1 1/2 miles, take a toll on even the most experienced horses. That’s why when stars such as Citation, Seattle Slew, Secretariat and American Pharoh come along and make it look so easy that we’re left in awe. 

Now we’ve added Justify’s name to the list, with him the 13th horse to win the Kentucky Derby, Preakness and Belmont Stakes. He defeated a deep crop, faced more horses in his three legs than any previous Triple Crown winner.

Here’s why:

 

Not since Seattle Slew has a horse managed to enter the Triple Crown perfect and exit it without a defeat. Among the other recent undefeated Kentucky Derby winners were Smarty Jones, Big Brown and Nyquist. Justify has now raced six times in 112 days, and has come out the other side of the Triple Crown unscathed.

It didn’t matter that he dealt with horrid conditions in two out of the three races. Didn’t matter that he had to keep going through suicidal opening splits, and dueled champions, only to fend off the late challenges of talented closers. Nothing mattered.

When American Pharoah managed to complete the Triple Crown, he had run five races in 84 days. He then got a bit of a breather when he ran back in the Haskell Invitational, which marked his sixth start in 141 days. By today’s standards, that is still a lot of racing packed into a relatively short period. It amounts to a race once every 23.5 days on average.

Justify took that to a whole new level. He was able to remain at the top of his game, despite delivering one spectacular performance after another, at an average of one race every 18.66 days since his debut. That type of campaign with a horse at this level hasn’t been seen in decades.

How many horses have managed to win the Kentucky Derby without a foundation racing as a 2-year-old? Before Justify, only one: Apollo in 1882

It’s been discussed at length how inexperience has cost talented sophomores as they stretch to 10 furlongs in the Kentucky Derby. It showed in Bodemeister when he became rubber legged in the final stages of the race. It showed with Curlin when he was clobbered at the start, taken out of his game, and forced to come from well back for the first time in his short career.

Things like that happen to all horses, and even those with a foundation find it hard to overcome. But more experience always helps. To add, a horse un-raced at 2 hadn’t won the Preakness until this year, either.

Factors that did in so many horses before Justify, like the Derby’s 20-horse field, a sloppy track and blazing early pace, seemed only to make this year’s Triple Crown winner stronger.

Justify shredded the history books. He may not have any track records to his name, like Secretariat, but you could argue he’s bucked history that’s just as substantial.

Years from now, we’ll further see the magnitude of what he’s accomplished. Simply, Justify redefined what it means to be a great racehorse.