woohoo! I’m so happy he won the Preakness! It looked like a much tougher race for him. Realistically can you think he can win the Triple at Belmont? I really hope so!
I don’t think he will, but I do hope I’m wrong.
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I don’t think he can stay the distance but I am still rooting for him!
The size of the field will have an effect also, I believe. Smallish field, a chance; larger field will make it much harder.
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Can he, I think so.
Will he, I think it will be the hardest of the 3 races for him. Smith may need to do a different strategy to get Justify to the wire first. Belmont is not an easy surface and 1.5mi is a long race for most of these colts.
I don’t think the break will be a big factor, nor gate position. Opposition and ride and which Justify shows up will be the deciding factors 
I think he’s got incredible guts to be so green (5th race ever) and to get almost overtaken by three other horses just before the finish line and still finish first! I also remember that he was dead lame the morning after the Derby. Yes, he recovered but that must have drained some of his energy. He’ll have three weeks to build up his strength and stamina before the Belmont.
I hope hope hope he can do it! Meanwhile I’m going to enjoy the excitement I will feel from now until the Belmont finish line. Spring in Mississippi and a possible Triple Crown Winner. Wahoo!
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His pedigree and running style doesn’t bode well for the Belmont. But stranger things have happened. Glad he won the Preakness. Though I would have been shocked if he hadn’t. Bet NYRA management are really glad he won also. The numbers go way down when there is no Triple Crown on the line.
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Within 20 minutes of his winning the Preakness I got another (about the 30th) email from NYRA to buy my Belmont tickets. A friend who also lives near NY got the same email. We have been inundated with these emails since the Kentucky Derby.
Regarding the Belmont, I would love to see another Triple Crown winner. I am 71, can’t wait another 37 years. But yeah, running style and pedigree, I don’t know.
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That excitement is one of my favorite parts of a Triple Crown on the line! Win or lose it makes the 5 weeks a lot more fun.
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I have to say I did like Tenfold before he ran yesterday. Not as some kind of TC horse, but just in general. He sure came bearing down in the mud on Justify! Bravazo was impressive as well! I think he got an education on running in slop on KD day, and took off with it. Both of those horses looked like they had gas left, might have enough for the Belmont distance. I hope they try it. I like Justify, but racing is racing!
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I’ve always felt that the Preakness was actually the hardest of the three Triple Crown races to win. I’m not making any predictions until we see how Justify is in a few days, and who will be facing him in the Belmont. Will he win? Deo Volente.
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If he can hold 'em off in that extra 1/4 mile. I hope he won’t run out of steam before anyone runs out of track.
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But didn’t they say that about Secretariat as well? The Bold Rulers were just sprinters people said.
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Nobody has mentioned that he won the first two in the slop. That seems to me to be something to think about. If working well in the slop is an indicator of stamina, then seems to me that even if the Belmont track is dry, he might just do it. If working in the slop says nothing about stamina, there might be a completely different result on a dry track.
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Yes. Correct me if I’m wrong, but I thought I read that Pimlico was getting ‘heavy going’ by that race.
Oh. Question. What does ‘sealing the track’ mean? What does it do or involve?
TIA
His damsire was Princequillo, who was a well known sire of distance runners.
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“Sealing” the track involves compacting the footing to squish the water out (and keep it out). Usually the footing is a DEEP dirt/sand mixture. When they seal the track, they use heavy equipment to pack all of that footing down so it is essentially a hard sheet and the water will run off. They usually use a giant “float” or “squeegee” to take excess water off the surface.
A sealed track is usually a fast one, as the hard surface is faster for horses to get over. Much faster than the mud that exists when the sealed track is harrowed again to soften the footing.
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Thanks for the nice explanation and yes, based on some of the earlier races on the Preakness card, the track was fast… they were running fractions that I’d have expected out of a fast track, not sloppy 
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They seal the track prior to rain so the water runs off it. Big rollers are used to pack down the dirt. At Pimlico, there was so much rain all week that the track technically could not be sealed - it was already wet. It was a speed favoring track but not a fast one.
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If there is a rabbit in the race who sets blazing early fractions, I don’t think he will do it. Mike Smith likes him to be just outside of the leader, stalking the pace. If another horse sets blazing early fractions; I do not think Justify can stay the course. There will be too many closers in the race. I expect it to be a bigger field than the Preakness and the majority of them fresh horses.
I think he loses the Belmont but like others have said; I hope he proves me wrong. He sure is gutsy.
I still question his soundness. he was resting that hind leg, again, when he returned to the barns in KY yesterday. I think it will all depend on how much rest he gets in the next 3 weeks.
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