Sorry, but it doesn’t to me.  I’ll give Justify his due as the best of this crop but come on.  First a front runner wins the first two legs on sloppy sealed tracks.  Okay.  No problem with that but it leaves only one opportunity to test him.  We get a nice dry day for the Belmont and what do we get?  We get him going to the front again from the one hole—expected—but he never gets challenged.  I’ve decided most jockeys aren’t too bright, or maybe they’re just too busy racing and trying to make money to study but what the hell?  The one I hoped could make a race out of it ran 3-4 wide on both turns lol.

I don’t know, it just doesn’t feel like he earned it to me and it feels different from Pharoah’s TC so it’s not because of Baffert.  This one feels cheap for some reason.  AP earned a tough-won Derby.  He did get the sloppy track in Maryland but was at least challenged in the Belmont for awhile by Materiality.  The closest one to Justify thru the mile was the one that was only in the race to run interference and keep others wide.  He wasn’t really putting any pressure on Justify.  It just feels cheap.  Am I the only one that feels this way?

Did you ever think it might just be you?

That’s why I asked.  I guess you think he’s deserving and earned it.  I think I need more convincing lol.

The heavyweight champion of the world in boxing doesn't have to knock out and fight everyone in the world.

Like Justify, champs have to just beat what's put out in front of them.

 By the way, Mr. Universe is always from Earth, at least for the time being.

Enjoy (enjoy!) the trip..life's and racing's (d)

I could see a comparison to a tag team wrestling match maybe, but boxing?  

I don’t know.  We’re going to see more and more of these top sales type colts being hidden away while their handlers wait for God knows what they’re pumping into them to take effect before we see them debut.  I think I’m going to take a break for awhile.

It feels different from AP because he was breaking a 37 year drought. People were starting to think it couldn't happen again. I'm sure it wasn't quite as exciting when Seattle Slew won as when Secretariat won. My only beef was the way his connections handled the Audible situation. Call me a conspiracist, but I don't like how they found that he was "hurt", after they had already made comments that they might not run him with the TC on the line. Nevertheless, I think the horse accomplished something extraordinary, not having run before February. When you think about it, that's mind boggling.

You're not alone in that feeling, without a doubt.  The subjective side of our personalities respond differently.  So, there is no "correct" way of feeling about the horse or what he has accomplished & how he came to accomplish what he has done.

What is indisputable, as a fact, is that no other horse in the long history of U.S. racing has done what Justify has done.  That puts him alone.  One either appreciates it while another one may not.

My own subjective view is that something was at work, in terms of yearning for a horse to end the 37 year drought, that amplified Pharoah's accomplishment.  By the same token, Justify's TC came so recently after AP's that much, if not all, of the yearning for a TC had already been spent, thereby diminishing it for many on a subjective level.

In terms of particulars, outside of Secretariat's Tour De Force, bravura TC series which stands as the highest bar, we can, if we want to, find holes in every winner's profile.  Either a small field, here or there, an easy race, etc.

Even the truly great front-runner, who like Justify, was an undefeated TC Champ & had nothing but 1's in his running lines as well, Seattle Slew, took a bashing from certain quarters during & after his TC.

Aside from the handicapping & betting where a high degree of objectivity is required for the job, the fun of fandom, because it's less rigorous, is the fun to indulge our feelings.  :)

Your last sentence mentions fandom and I think that’s what’s bothering me.  The bettor in me lost $40 on the race, big whoop.  I’m finding myself unable to cheer on a TRIPLE CROWN champion though and I guess that’s whats bothering me as a fan of the sport.  I can’t quite put my finger on why, but it just doesn’t feel right, from them keeping Audible out as Rae’s mentions to running Restoring Hope.  

Yes.  Whatever works inside each of us psychologically, as fans, to either experience exhilaration or disappointment or to be completely unmoved & feel neutral is different for each of us.  Even though the experience of some kind of emotional reaction to something we are passionate about itself is universal.  We all feel something & we each feel differently.

I made it no secret that Pharoah didn't move me & no amount of cajolery from the majority of people who felt differently made a difference to me. 

It's all part of being a fan.  Personally, I was sorry to see (even though I expected it) Hope doing what Geroux asked him to do because as a fan of Justify I thought he would win without that nonsense occurring.  So, if I have any disappointment it's not in the result but in the methodology that was all too apparent.  I was sorry to see it.  It's a blemish I cannot deny.

Onward & upward, Bet. :)

I think it may feel that way because Justify did everything in a very short time span, so we didn't have an entire prep season to follow his trials and travails.    The point is that, for a horse w/not a whole lot of foundation, he just won these things on sheer talent.   He sure is a beautiful animal on top of everything.

I make no bones that I am not a Baffert fan.  I am not a fan of most of the humans he is involved with in his "business" and since he gets sent the very best breedings, I am unable to say he is better than many other trainers, who don't get sent those kinds  of horses in the first place. Unlike Aiden O'brien, he doesn't seem magnanimus in giving all his employees credit for each time he wins, and he seems more like a tv personality than a trainer these days....most of the work is done by people like this:

http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-justify-belmont-plaschke-20180604-story.html?outputType=amp&__twitter_impression=true


Had this been aiden O'brien winning, you can be darn sure he would have put his employees in the spotlight and given them as many accolades as he had time/space for.  

Baffert seems more like a tv personality lately than a trainer.  Maybe he should run for POTUS since that seems to be the trend these days  LOL