Union Rags wins Belmont Stakes

Union Rags charged along the rail in the final moments to edge Paynter by a head and win the 144th Belmont Stakes on Saturday in the final event of American horse racing's Triple Crown. The exciting finish brightened some of the gloom shadowing the event a day after Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner I'll Have Another retired from racing because of tendonitis in his left front leg. Union Rags, seventh in the Derby, skipped the Preakness to rest for the Belmont's 1.5 mile challenge and made the strategy pay off by outracing Paynter to the wire with Antigun finishing third. "He did everything that he did in the work in the morning," jockey John Velazquez said of the winning horse. "I thought he had a great trip in there. "Incredible. I don't have words to describe it." Favored Dullahan was trapped in the pack on the backstretch and never in contention at the finish. Before the race, I'll Have Another was honored with a retirement ceremony in the winner's circle at Belmont Park before the Belmont Stakes, the chestnut colt having his saddle removed by trainer Doug O'Neill. "We felt that this would be a fitting ceremonial retirement for an incredible racehorse," O'Neill said. "Many fans traveled from near and far to see I'll Have Another and we wanted to give them a chance to help us send him off to retirement."