Union Rags (right) charged along the rail in the final moments to edge Paynter by a head and win the 144th Belmont Stakes 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 to win in 2:30.42, with Atigun finishing third.

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