Tapwrit wins 149th Belmont Stakes by two lengths over Irish War Cry

Tapwrit's victory gave Pletcher two of the three races in the Triple Crown. Tapwrit's Belmont was Pletcher's third, after Palace Malice won it in 2013 and the filly Rags to Riches outdueled Curlin in 2007 in what remains one of the most goosebump-inducing sporting events I've witnessed live. Yet, many experts are wary of Lookin At Lee, who is the only horse at Belmont to have run at both the Derby and the Preakness Stakes. Five of the past nine Belmont winners did that.

Tapwrit had finished strongly in wet conditions at the Derby and proved well suited for the longer distance at the Belmont.

After the race, the mega-trainer said, "It's our home base and I think that's always an advantage". He rallied to finish fourth.

It was also extra special for 23-year-old jockey Jose Ortiz, who recorded his first Triple Crown win.

While at Fair Hill, Irish War Cry trained so well "I felt he earned a trip to the Belmont", Motion said. Irish War Cry paid $4.70 for second and completed the $2 exacta of $45.20.

That horse got off to the solid start that he needed, and trainer Graham Motion liked his position. Patch, the one-eyed horse trained by Pletcher, took third in the Belmont after being 14th in the Derby.

"The Derby win was awesome", he said. "We're fortunate it fell into place".

All horses running at Belmont Park undergo the same pre-race evaluation to ensure they are fit to compete.

John Malone is chairman of Liberty Media Corp., whose holdings include Sirius XM radio and the Atlanta Braves.

It was the second victory in five starts this year for the gray son of Tapit, who took the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby in March but subsequently finished fifth in the Grade 2 Blue Grass Stakes and then sixth in the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby.

Cloud Computing just edged Classic Empire in the late stretch during the Preakness to pull off a big price upset.

Japanese horse Epicharis was a morning scratching due to a hoof injury, missing out on a chance to secure a $1 million bonus that would have gone to the connections of the colt had he won.

Epicharis was reported to the Belmont Park stewards by Verderosa as still being off in his right front foot, an issue that had prevented Epicharis from going to the track to train on Thursday and Friday. "He got a handsome trip". We kind of hoped that somebody else would go for it, but he had to go to Plan B and [jockey] Rajiv [Maragh] did a great job.

"That last sixteenth (of a mile) Tapwrit really dug down deep", Pletcher said. Tucked in along the rail with Gormley to his outside, Tapwrit and Ortiz waited patiently behind the leaders.

According to oddsmakers from online sports book Bovada.lv, Irish War Cry remains the favorite at 7/2. "Turning for home I thought we might have it but it's a long way home". It was a two-horse race to the finish line, with Tapwrit gaining the lead in the final furlong. J Boys Echo, Meantime and Multiplier are 15/1, respectively, while Twisted Tom is 20/1. That threw jockey Florent Geroux out of his crouch, which in turn led to him slipping his irons.