by Exxon Mobile taking on the world's toughest energy challenges. By MetLife, I can do this and by head and shoulders. Respect the scalp. Love the hair. Welcome back to Belmont Park where Union Rags and John Velaskev has won the Belmont Stakes. It's the sixth time since 2000 that the Belmont winner ran in the Derby and then skipped the freakness. Let's see how they did it with our Pacific Life race and the rebless. This is the horse that did not break at all in the Kentucky Derby at Cossum All Chance. This horse is fast from the starting gate if he needs to be and he was today. Johnny got a flyer with him. He breaks excellent, clean, gives him a little bit of a tap on the shoulder just to get him involved. And the speed was legitimate early on. The fractions were right. Johnny had the love where he was right now as they entered the first turn, Randy. But then the fractions slowed down. Half mile and 49 and one fifth seconds. They went six furlongs and one minute 14 and three fifths, which is slow by triple crown standards. Certainly, but Union Rags and Johnny Velaskev saving all the ground. Painter, the beneficiary of those fractions on the front. And just like Motie Meister in the freakness, everything is on the way. The thing about Union Rags right here is that he switched off to hit with these slow fractions. He's put into a perfect spot right here as they come into home right now. Take the look who's on the outside right there. Julian Leipru on Attachan. There's no chance that they're going to love Johnny out at this point right now. So he's got to just hope that Mike slides off the rail just enough to get through. And Johnny's actually having to wait right now until about five strides for now, right? And when you watch this finish, keep in mind there were many out there who questioned Union Rags' ability to get the mile and a half. They said that his side or Dixie Union meant that he couldn't get a mile and a half. Even though the female side of his pedigree was repliqued with stamina, no problem at all. Getting the 12 for longs right here. He's squeezed through the inside. Mike Smith's got to be thinking, oh, no, not again. Exactly. And I'll tell you why, Johnny, this or she needed every step of the way. Dullahum, what happened to him? Well, this is what happened to him about midway through the race. As Randy mentioned, the pace was slowed down dramatically by Mike Smith and Painter. Look at this back here. Dullahum losing all chance, getting forced out of his game. It's tough to recover from getting shuffled back from a good position all the way back to the next lap. But even when he got out, he didn't really raise any heck. You heard how the air costalana wonder if maybe that fast worked out earlier in the week was too fast. Maybe it did. Take some starch out of him here. And Bob Baffert, another narrow loss after two with Bollymeister, trying to hold on. Mike Smith gave him every chance to win. And for Bob Baffert, the third time he's narrowly been beaten in the Belmont Stakes, that was our Pacific life, race replay. Baffert beaten ahead with silver charm in 97. Beaton and Knows with real quiet in 98. Painter just lost today. Union rides is the Belmont chain. The Belmont Stakes is official run in 230.42 as Union Rags pays 750. Painter's second, Addigan the Longshot third paying 1060 in the show spot. The exacta $3,140, $148 for the Dollar Tri-Efecta. And you see the Dollar superfective payoff as well. Union Rags, 750 to win the Belmont Stakes. And a couple of moments ago, Bob Numer had a chance to talk to Mike Smith. He must have been disappointed, Bob. And now, Dottie, has devastated the deja vu element of this pre-knus versus Belmont. But here's the point. Mike Smith blamed himself for the loss. Said a veteran rider should never allow his source to drift off the rail. Thus, salarming John Velasquez and Union Rags to sneak up the inside and nail him on the wire. Mike Smith said, it should never happen to a veteran rider like me. His Bob Custis. That's my camera. Which camera's? Ready. All right, a makeshift situation here for the presentation of the trophy, Steve Dunker, is the chairman of the New York Racing Association. And he will make that presentation, Steve. Thank you, Bob. First of just a quick thank you to our New York Racing fans who support us all day, every day, all your long and our great horsemen. Not of the race. Johnny V. What a ride. Holy cow. That was sensational. And Union Rags is gutty, a gritty race, as you can run. To Johnny V. Michael Math. And especially Mrs. Wyeth, congratulations. Your cult just passed the test of a champion. Congratulations. I don't know who's going to take custody of it, but you can hold onto it for the moment. Steve, Mrs. Wyeth, you sold Union Rags and then repurchased the horse. Why? Because I knew I came, I had a dream, I knew he would make it. I only have that race horse and a half of another, a climber. And I knew Michael could do it with him. It was my dream and he made it come through today. And Johnny, I knew he could do it. And nobody would have gotten through on the rail other than Johnny today. I could tell you that. That was unbelievable. He just said, move over, I'm coming. He believed in the horse. And Michael got him there. It was unbelievable, John. Thank you, Mrs. Wyeth. John, quickly, your thoughts on the tactics are time is short. I thought it worked out perfectly. I wanted to get a good break. Get in a nice comfortable position that he was going forward. And then the court of pull, I was just hoping that I get in a nice little room that he could go through there. And I get to give it to the horse. He did it all for me. When I asked him, he was there for me, and he responded all the way to the wire. So I'm very, very glad that I got on him. I'm very, very glad that I knew him. And he worked out just fine for us. And Michael, match, you thought you had a horse with triple crown potential, bad trip in the Derby. But what a way to end the last of the three triple crown contests. Well, I'm just glad for Phyllis and the horse that we really got to see the real Union Rags. We go to Tom Hammond. All right, Bob, and finally some good luck for Union Rags. After all that bad luck, Mike Smith said, he shouldn't have let him through on the inside. What do you think? Well, I think there's a couple of different factors. There was enough horse, a big enough hole. And he was game enough to go through there. The real Union Rags showed up today. You know, I had some adversity here. Last year he's two for two at this race track now. And he overcame that adversity here at Churchill, or at the Belmont Park last year. So I think a very, very good performance for him today. Back in March, if you had told a whole lot of horse racing people that we'd get to the Belmont sticks with the possibility to win a triple crown as we had earlier this week, they would have all said, right? Union Rags will be the horse. Well, there was the disappointment in the derby, caused a lot of people to jump off the bandwagon. They said he wasn't tough. They said he matured last year. They caught up to him now. He couldn't get the mile and a half. Well, today he was mature. He was tough. And he got the mile and a half better than anybody. And he returned to the scene of his greatest triumph prior to today. The champagne stakes, which he won last year, got some good luck, and he got the job done. Let's go back to Bob Custis. Well, as was briefly noted earlier, congratulations go to Michael Masin to John Velasquez. But when you think about Bob Baffert, he is one nine triple crown racers. Could have won with a little bit of luck, I guess. All three this time, his horse, Bodimaister twice, and today painter, run down right at the end by the combined length of a race horse. Practically, he lost all three triple crown racers in 2012. That's going to do it for all of us here at Belmont Park. There's still more to come, though, as our coverage continues with the post-race show over on the NBC Sports Network, and our reminder, the beginning Thursday, the US Open Championship, comes to you from the Olympic Club starting at three Eastern on NBC. And tonight at eight Eastern on NBC, it's game five of the Stanley Cup. Final, the Devils hosting the Kings as the Kings looked to clinch the Stanley Cup. For our entire team, I'm Bob Custis saying so long from Belmont Park, where Union Rags won the Belmont State.