Dual Classic Winner Justify Arrives at Belmont Park
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Photo: Rick Samuels
Justify is the first horse off the van
Dual classic winner Justify was the first horse off a large Brook Ledge Horse Transportation van at 2:10 p.m. June 6 at Belmont Park.
The son of Scat Daddy is the 4-5 morning-line favorite in the $1.5 million Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1) June 9 at Belmont, where he'll try to become the 13th horse to win the Triple Crown.
The van trip completed a journey from Churchill Downs. Justify was vanned to Louisville International Airport on Wednesday morning before being flown to Long Island MacArthur Airport, where he arrived after 12:30 p.m. He was then vanned to the Elmont, N.Y., track, with assistant Jimmy Barnes keeping him company for the entire journey.
Once off the van, Justify was led by trainer Bob Baffert, who walked him in the barn for several minutes. Baffert and Elliott Walden, president and CEO of co-owner WinStar Farm, arrived outside the barn about 10 minutes before the van. Some 60 or 70 media members observed the arrival.
"He didn't get hot (and) drank a lot of water when he got off," Baffert said. "We feel pretty relieved he made this stage of the journey. He came in here safe and sound. He was just dragging me around there. All the horses in the barn were screaming and yelling. It's almost as if they were greeting him."
Justify is staying in John Terranova's barn, Barn 1, on the Belmont backstretch. It is the same barn that 2015 Triple Crown winner American Pharoah occupied for Baffert ahead of his Belmont win.