This Week in Racing: Justify proves he's simply the best

From opening bell to a celebratory cross of the wire, Justify was best of the 10 horses that entered the starting gate of the Belmont Stakes, just as he has been in each of his five previous starts. And now, less than four months after his racing career began, the powerful chestnut has secured his place in racing history in more ways than one.

Still perfect, the robust son of Scat Daddy now joins Seattle Slew as the only horse to ever sweep the Triple Crown while still unbeaten. Forty-one years ago, Slew used a high turn of speed and a healthy heaping of heart to get the big job done. I've been fortunate enough to see all five Triple Crown winners of modern racing, and without doubt, the colt to finally put an end to the curse of Apollo most closely compares to the great runner of the late seventies. 

In a Belmont that lacked the authoritativeness of American Pharoah, the fantastic struggle for supremacy between Affirmed and Alydar, or the tremendous machine movements of Secretariat, Justify simply and efficiently went to work on Saturday afternoon, much as Seattle Slew had done back in 1977. A game of catch me if you can was a losing proposition for horses like Run Dusty Run and Sanhedrin back in the day, and so it was for the competition of Justify in this Belmont.

Why was this horse able to become the 13th Triple Crown winner, and only the second one to do it since 1978? The "Test of the Champion" has proven a stumbling block to so many top horses over the years, but to Justify it was just another race, and another opportunity to validate himself a champion. 

Credit to trainer Bob Baffert, who clearly knows how to get a good horse to and through the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Belmont Stakes better than any other conditioner of horses that we've ever seen. 

Credit to jockey Mike Smith, who has always been a top rider, but now at this stage of his career, the 52-year-old rider seems to be a full step ahead of his fellow riders, both in tactics and horseflesh.

And of course, credit to horse. A horse who has done so much in such a short period of time. As fantastic as he looked breaking his maiden in February at Santa Anita, who would of thought that he could take things this far, this fast?  

Out there in the crowd of 90,000, with some of my best racing buddies, and part of the collective heartbeat which pounded harder with each and every stride that the talented leader put down, I knew that I was once again part of something special.

Few horses can complete the deal. Three races, five weeks, and the pressure of the racing world pressing down on them, but every so often a special horse comes along born, bred, and trained for immortality.

All hail Justify, racing's 13th Triple Crown winner.

All accolades go to Justify this week, but let's not forget about the sensational season, and career, that Monomoy Girl is building.

An excellent performer in four starts as a 2-year-old, the daughter of Tapizar has taken things to a whole new exciting level at 3. She may not possess the overpowering dominance of Rachel Alexandra of nine years ago, but what she has accomplished in her first four starts at three is quite remarkable.

Beginning with the Rachel Alexandra Stakes one day before the racing career of Justify began, Monomoy Girl has demonstrated nearly everything we could hope to see in a Thoroughbred racehorse.

That afternoon in New Orleans, she overcame a bad break to roll right by the field from last. She followed that up with a dominating wire-to-wire score in the Grade 1 Ashland Stakes. Then, the day before the Derby, she earned the toughest victory of her career by fighting it out all the way to the finish line in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks.

On Belmont Day, she dropped back to one turn for the Grade 1 Acorn, to face real speed at a flat mile. With extreme professionalism, she allowed for her rider, Florent Geroux, to pull her out of a budding speed duel. This show of tactical know-how and patience was all she needed to make her move on the turn and prove much the best down the stretch.

Four big races, at four different tracks, different ways of winning, and new challenges each time -- nothing seems to matter to this Brad Cox-trained filly. Overshadowed by the well chronicled exploits of Justify, Monomoy Girl is also something special, and writing her own compelling story in 2018.

Considering recent impressive wins from older champions Abel Tasman and Unique Bella, including a powerful victory from the former on Belmont Stakes day, the Breeders' Cup Distaff at Churchill Downs is looking like it could be a very good one.