I  remember as a kid my dad talking about Secretariat, Seattle Slew and affirmed...they each won the triple crown in course of 5 years between 1973 and 1978. There was a long gap until American Pharoah won in 2015. In 2018 Justify roared wire to wire to win again. My second in person in 3 years. I definitely didn't get the photos that i was able to capture in 2015. Justify ran to the middle of the track taking my remote out of the running for epic shot. The flat light doesn't suit my style, i'm really just not a very good racing photographer. All excuses. It was a great experienced and I was surrounded by people that I love and they were doing what they love. 

JUSTIFY - 2018

Justify launches from the starting line. This image was captured with the Nikon D850 and the 19mm PC lens. Remote photography has a strange set of rules as to whom gets credit for an image. I framed the shot, input the settings, and hoped for the best. The amazing Tim Lanahan pushed the trigger and helped make sure that during the various track waterings and harrowings that my camera stayed in place and was A-Ok. Thanks Tim. Really a team image. Thanks to Adam Coglianese for all your advice and access and to the immortal Skip Dickstein for 5 years of advice that have led to me being able to get any remote images. 

The two images below are with the same set up at the end of the race as Justify wins the 2018 Triple Crown. Remote photography can be a guessing game and in this case i guessed wrong. He ran far out from the rail and didn't give me the image i had imagined when i set it up. It's ok - History and all that. And the experience. An opportunity for the future. Luckily even though Justify ran so far to the middle the amazing resolution of the D850 allowed for a rather extreme but still sharp crop in the second shot below. He was nowhere near where I expected so my sharpness isn't perfect but still a reasonable shot...

I shot the race from with a D850 and the 180-400 and the lens is special. i really was having some issues with making sure I was out of the way of people as Justify led the pack down the stretch and i didn't get what i wanted (notice a theme here) but again...history. With great people. While I'm working. Great day. 

Thanks to all the photographers that cover the race (obviously especially the Nikon shooters) but really to all of them that provide inspiration each year as I strive to figure out how to capture a pack of mammals running at high speed in a circle in a unique or at least acceptable way...