Justify aiming for Triple Crown this weekend, guided by trainer who won it all 3 years ago

Justify looking to become the second Triple Crown winner in three years.

June 9, 2018, 6:20 AM

With the Belmont Stakes horse race slated for Saturday, the heavily favored Justify is looking to be the second Triple Crown winner in three years.

The 3-year-old colt is a 4/5 favorite to win, according to Las Vegas odds, after impressive victories leading up to the event.

A win for Justify would be Bob Baffert’s second as a trainer. He trained American Pharoah in 2015 when the horse won the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes in Baltimore and Belmont Stakes in New York after a 37-year Triple Crown dry spell for thoroughbred horse racing.

Triple Crown contender Justify is bathed after training, June 7, 2018, ahead of the Belmont Stakes at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y.
Al Bello/Getty Images

“I’ve never had a horse like him,” Baffert, 65, told The Associated Press. “His mechanics, his motion, just the way he did it. … This horse is starting to act like Pharoah.”

Justify didn’t start racing until turning 3 years old, becoming the first horse in over a century to win the Kentucky that didn’t race as a 2-year-old.

The horse’s first victory at the Santa Anita Park in California a few months ago convinced Baffert that he might be training a champion.

Trainer Bob Baffert walks Justify, after the Triple Crown hopeful arrived at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y., June 6, 2018. The 150th running of the Belmont Stakes horse race is on Saturday.
Julio Cortez/AP

Justify had to win the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby to qualify for the Kentucky Derby. He edged out Bolt d’Oro, which was his ticket to the Kentucky Derby.

Justify dominated the Derby last month but won the Preakness in a closer race two weeks later.

PHOTO: Graphic lists post positions for horses in the 2018 Belmont Stakes.
AP

Still, Baffert sees similarities between American Pharoah and Justify, he told the AP.

Their strides and running styles are comparable, Baffert said, adding that they both had similar struggles in their races leading up to the Belmont event.

PHOTO: Graphic describes horses in the 2018 Belmont Stakes with post positions and jockey's silks.
AP

"They're two different type of horses, Pharoah and this guy," Baffert told the AP after Justify won the Preakness. "I think I see a lot of resemblance in these two, the way they move.

“When I worked him after the Preakness, American Pharoah, when he would breathe, he was like he was a machine. And this horse is getting there."