American Pharoah led the 147th running of the Belmont Stakes almost from start to finish to become the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978 on Saturday at Belmont Park.

After winning the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes, American Pharoah beat a field of seven other horses in the Belmont. Jockey Victor Espinoza put American Pharoah on the lead before the horses hit the first turn, and he stayed in front the rest of the way. When the horses turned for home, instead of tiring in his third race in five weeks, American Pharoah pulled away to become thoroughbred racing's 12th Triple Crown winner. Since Affirmed captured the Triple Crown, 14 horses had won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness, but American Pharoah became the first to join racing's greatest legends.

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American Pharoah's winning time of 2:26.6 was the second-fastest for a Triple Crown winner at the Belmont, behind only Secretariat's 2:24 in 1973, which set a 1.5-mile world record and earned a 31-length victory. The Saturday showing came after American Pharoah turned in the slowest winning time for the Preakness since 1950, winning by 7.5 lengths over Tale of Verve in a rainstorm on May 16.

American Pharoah finished 5.5 lengths ahead of second-place Frosted, with Keen Ice in third. Mubtaahij finished fourth, with Frammento fifth, Madefromlucky sixth, Tale of Verve seventh and Materiality eighth.

Materiality ran off American Pharoah's flank for more than half the race, but faded. Keen Ice made a hard run down the stretch to nip Mubtaahij for third.

American Pharoah became the first Preakness winner to win the Belmont since Afleet Alex in 2005. He became the first Belmont Stakes favorite to win at "Big Sandy" since Afleet Alex, too. American Pharoah also became the first Kentucky Derby winner to win the Belmont Stakes since Thunder Gulch in 1995.

While joining the group of 12 Triple Crown winners, American Pharoah also stands unique among them. Each of the other 11 had run at least one race at Belmont Park before winning the Belmont Stakes. Saturday was American Pharoah's first race at "Big Sandy."

American Pharoah's eighth race was his seventh consecutive victory. He finished fifth in his first outing.

Bob Baffert, American Pharoah's trainer, had come to Belmont Park with a chance to win the Triple Crown three times previously -- more than any other trainer. But his horses Silver Charm, Real Quiet and War Emblem came up short -- Real Quiet by just a nose to Victory Gallop -- in the Belmont Stakes.

Espinoza, who has ridden the winner of five of the past nine Triple Crown races, had been aboard War Emblem in 2002 and California Chrome in 2014 when those horses came up short of the Triple Crown in the Belmont.

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American Pharoah leading into stretch.

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American Pharoah halfway home. Three-quarters of a mile in 1:13.4.

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Opening quarter-mile in 24 seconds.

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American Pharoah goes right to the front going to first turn.

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Horses loading for the 147th Belmont Stakes.

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As the horses approach the gate, might be good to know that the past four Triple Crown winners had the lead at the announcer's first call. Watch how American Pharoah breaks. Could be the key to the race -- and the Triple Crown.

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Belmont Park sticks with tradition. No live performance of the signature song for its signature race. Instead, it's a recording of Frank Sinatra singing "New York, New York" as the horses start the post parade.

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Participants in an AL.com poll to pick the winner of the Belmont Stakes like American Pharoah's chances to win the Triple Crown. American Pharoah led the reader poll to pick with the Belmont winner with 45.9 percent of the votes. Frosted came in second with 21.9 percent of the vote, with Madefromlucky in third with 9.8 percent. The rest of the horses with their vote totals were Materiality at 7.2 percent, Mubtaahij 7, Keen Ice 3.4, Tale of Verve 2.9 and Frammento at 2.3.

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The betting odds update from Belmont Park shows only one change since the 5 p.m. update. Frammento is back to the longest shot in the race at 19-1 after falling briefly to 18-1. American Pharoah remains at 3-5 to win the Belmont Stakes and, with it, the Triple Crown. Frosted is at 9-2, Materiality 6-1, Madefromlucky 13-1, Mubtaahij and Keen Ice at 15-1 and Tale of Verve at 18-1.

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Former New York Yankees manager Joe Torre gave the "Riders up" command.

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The Belmont Stakes is the 11th of 13 races at Belmont Park on Saturday, and trainer Todd Pletcher saddled the winning horse in three of the first seven races. Pletcher has Materiality and Madefromlucky running in the Belmont.

The ninth race, the Metropolitan Handicap - or Met Mile - featured a loaded field that included Tonalist, the winner of last year's Belmont Stakes, and a $1.25 million purse. Although favored to win again at Belmont Park, Tonalist ran second to Honor Code.

Tragedy struck the racing card in Saturday's fourth race when Helwan pulled up during the Jaipur Invitational with a broken bone above the left front foot. Helwan was euthanized on the track.

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American Pharoah is the first of the eight Belmont Stakes horses to reach the assembly barn. The countdown is really on to his bid to become the 12th Triple Crown winner and the first since Affirmed in 1978. For a while during the Triple Crown drought, Visa offered a Triple Crown bonus, but that sponsorship is no longer in place. The winner of Saturday's race earns $800,000.

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In the 5 p.m. CDT live odds update, American Pharoah is holding steady as a 3-5 betting favorite to win the Belmont Stakes and become the first Triple Crown winner since 1978. The only changes to the odds in the past half-hour have been for Materiality, which has dropped from 7-1 to 6-1, and Frammento, which went from 19-1 to 18-1. The other odds are Frosted 9-2, Madefromlucky 13-1, Keen Ice and Mubtaahij 15-1 and Tale of Verve 18-1.

The past eight odds-on favorites in the Belmont have lost. American Pharoah's trainer, Bob Baffert, has had six Belmont favorites before this year, and only one of those horses won.

Frammento and Tale of Verve are the long shots, but don't have the really long odds of some of the Belmont's big upset winners - the biggest being Sarava, who paid $142.50 on a $2 win bet in 2002, when War Emblem was running for the Triple Crown. Eight of the 13 past Belmont winners have been at least 10-1.

Frammento is trained by Nick Zito, who won Belmonts against Triple Crown hopefuls with 36-1 long shot Birdstone in 2004 and 39-1 long shot Da'Tara in 2008.

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The Empire State Building celebrated the Belmont Stakes on Friday night by putting horses up in lights. The landmark isn't too far from Belmont Park, which is in Elmont, N.Y., east of Queens.

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The 90,000 people at Belmont Park in Elkmont, N.Y., on Saturday aren't there necessarily to see the Goo Goo Dolls concert. They've turned out to watch American Pharoah run for thoroughbred racing's Triple Crown in the 147th Belmont Stakes. That's nothing new: 13 times in the past 36 Belmonts, a horse ran for the Triple Crown. What would be new is if American Pharoah won Saturday's race and became the first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978.

American Pharoah trainer Bob Baffert saddled three of the Triple Crown hopefuls that have come up short in the Belmont since Affirmed. American Pharoah jockey Victor Espinoza rode two of them. They're hoping their unprecedented opportunities at the Triple Crown come to fruition this year.

So is the betting public, which has American Pharoah as a 3-5 favorite to become the 12th Triple Crown winner as of 4:11 p.m. CDT Saturday. However, only once in the past seven Belmonts has the race's winner come from the top four in the odds.

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Post time for the Belmont Stakes is scheduled for 5:50 p.m. CDT Saturday. NBC is televising the race and prepared a promo for the Triple Crown attempt:

The promo says "only a mile and a half" stands between American Pharoah and the Triple Crown, but that's a mighty big "only," since the horse - or any of the other seven horses in the field - has never raced that far.

The horses will break from the gates in these post positions: Mubtaahij 1, Tale of Verve 2, Madefromlucky 3, Frammento 4, American Pharoah 5, Frosted 6, Keen Ice 7 and Materiality 8. The 4:11 p.m. odds update has Frosted at 9-2, Materiality at 7-1, Madefromlucky 13-1, Keen Ice and Mubtaahij at 15-1, Tale of Verve at 18-1 and Frammento at 19-1.

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American Pharoah already has beaten all the other horses in the Belmont at least once during his seven-race career. He's won his past six outings.

American Pharoah won the Kentucky Derby by a length over Firing Line on May 2 at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. Firing Line isn't in the Belmont after finishing seventh in the eight-horse Preakness. Frammento, Frosted, Keen Ice, Materiality and Mubtaahij ran in the Kentucky Derby but skipped the Preakness.

American Pharoah won the Preakness Stakes on May 16 at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore by 7 lengths over Tale of Verve, the largest margin in the Run for the Black-Eyed Susans since Smarty Jones romped to an 11.5-length victory in 2004. Smarty Jones then lost by a length to 36-1 long shot Birdstone in the Belmont to miss the Triple Crown.

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American Pharoah splashed to victory in the Preakness, when the rain hit just before the race. American Pharoah also finished 4 lengths ahead of second-place finisher Madefromlucky in the rain to win the Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park on March 14. American Pharoah most likely won't get to show off his affinity for sloppy tracks in the Belmont. The weather forecast has only a 10 percent chance of rain, with temperatures in the low 70s. It rained some in the early morning, but the main track will be graded as fast.

The track capped Saturday's attendance at 90,000 after running into problems at the park and with public transportation last year, when 102,199 turned out to see California Chrome's Triple Crown bid. Belmont Park and the Long Island Rail Road have made changes to try to make this year's Belmont experience a smoother one for fans.

After the Kentucky Derby, with 170,513 spectators, and the Preakness Stakes, with 131,680, set attendance records this year, the Belmont's record of 120,139 will remain unbroken. That was the crowd in 2004, when Smarty Jones ran for the Triple Crown.

Belmont Park has the Goo Goo Dolls scheduled to perform at the end of Saturday's racing, partly as an effort to stagger the dispersal of the racing crowd.