Justify (horse)

Justify (born in March 28, 2015) is an US Hall of Fame Thoroughbred racehorse who is known for being the thirteenth winner of the American Triple Crown. He also was the first horse since Apollo in 1882 to win the Kentucky Derby without racing as a two-year-old.

Justify first attracted attention with a win in his debut race on February 18, 2018. He went on to win the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness Stakes and the Belmont Stakes to become the 13th Triple Crown winner. He was retired, undefeated, several weeks after the Belmont and became the only American Triple Crown winner in history who was never beaten in his entire career until the 2024 retroactive disqualification from his 2018 Santa Anita Derby run.

Justify's ancestors include Secretariat via A.P. Indy, Count Fleet via Mr. Prospector 2nd dam, War Admiral via A.P. Indy Dam Weekend Surprise, Omaha via Nijinsky, and Gallant Fox, all of whom also won the American Triple Crown.

On September 11, 2019, it was revealed via The New York Times that Justify tested positive for scopolamine, a banned substance that can be performance enhancing, in excess of what is normally found in tainted feed. The positive came just a few days after his win in the 2018 Santa Anita Derby. In December 2023, a court judge ordered that stewards issue a new ruling that would effectively disqualify Justify from that race. In March 2024, Justify was disqualified by California racing officials from the Santa Anita Derby, retroactively revoking his undefeated Triple Crown claim and overall career undefeated streak and changing his overall record from 6 wins in 6 starts to 5 wins in 6 starts.

Justify is a chestnut stallion with a large white blaze on his forehead. He was bred in Kentucky by Canadian John D. Gunther, who runs Glennwood Farm in Versailles, Kentucky, with his daughter Tanya. Although the Gunthers have a small breeding operation, their 2015 foals also included Without Parole, a Grade I winner at Royal Ascot, Vino Rosso, a graded stakes winner who raced against Justify in both the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes, and Grade I winner Competitionofideas. For this accomplishment, Gunther earned the 2018 Eclipse Award for Outstanding Breeder. Gunther also bred Justify's dam, Stage Magic, a stakes-placed daughter of Ghostzapper. Stage Magic was subsequently named the 2018 Kentucky Broodmare of the Year.

Justify was part of the second-last crop of Scat Daddy, who won the Champagne Stakes and Florida Derby. Although Scat Daddy ran in America on the dirt, as a stallion he first made his reputation in Europe and South America as a turf sire, with Grade I winners including Lady Aurelia and Caravaggio His stud fee when he was bred to Stage Magic in 2014 was only $35,000, though it was scheduled to increase to $100,000 in 2016. However, Scat Daddy died prematurely at the age of eleven in December 2015.

Justify was sold at the 2016 Keeneland September Yearling Sales for $500,000 to a recently formed partnership between WinStar Farm (60% ownership), China Horse Club (25%) and SF Racing (15%), the latter run by employees of George Soros's investment firm. David Hanley, general manager of WinStar, said that Justify stood out at the sales. "He was a beautiful yearling – had great balance and leg, great shoulder, and lovely length and neck, and power", he said. "For a big horse, he was very light on his feet, with good action and good energy." In early March 2018, SF Racing sold a share to Starlight Racing, then Sol Kumin's Head of Plains partners also bought a share in late March.

Justify grew into a massive horse, standing 16.3 hands (67 inches, 170 cm) at the withers and weighing either 1,268 pounds (575 kg) or 1,380 pounds (630 kg) during his Triple Crown run. He was initially sent to trainer Rodolphe Brisset at Keeneland but pulled a muscle and was given time to recover and grow into his frame. In January 2018, he was sent to Santa Anita to be trained by Bob Baffert.