Ruler on Ice surged past Preakness winner Shackleford in the finishing stretch to win the 1 1/2-mile Belmont Stakes on Saturday, giving jockey Jose Valdivia the win in his first Belmont ride.

In a race billed as a rubber match between Shackleford and Kentucky Derby winner Animal Kingdom, Shackleford seized the lead out of the gate as Animal Kingdom collided with another horse, nearly unseating jockey John Velazquez and falling out of contention.

In the end, it was the Kelly Breen-trained Ruler on Ice, who didn’t run in the first two legs of US flat racing’s Triple Crown, who emerged with the victory at the spacious Belmont track made sloppy by rain earlier in the day.

After the field turned for home, Ruler on Ice ran down the fading Shackleford and finished three-quarters of a length in front of Stay Thirsty, ridden by Javier Castellano.

Brilliant Speed, with Josel Rosario in the irons, finished third.

Ruler on Ice had been put up for the Kentucky Derby by his connections, but couldn’t run because he didn’t have enough graded stakes earnings. At Belmont, however, the three-year-old gelding showed he belonged as he beat a field that included the top seven Kentucky Derby finishers.

Valdivia seemed as stunned as anyone by the feat.

“I’m a couple of yards from the wire and I’m thinking, ‘Oh my God, oh my God, I’m going to win the Belmont’,” the muddy and beaming jockey said.

Shackleford settled for fifth behind Nehro and Animal Kingdom was sixth after an impressive ride by Velazquez, who was nearly pulled off when his mount clipped heels with Monzon out of the gate.

Ruler on Ice’s unlikely victory makes it three years in a row that a different horse has won each of the Triple Crown races.

The last horse to complete the coveted treble was Affirmed in 1978.

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