Arcangelo holds off the pack to win the Belmont Stakes

Finally a happy ending for a loaded Triple Crown.

Arcangelo thundered down the stretch of the Belmont Stakes to win the 155th running of the Belmont Stakes by one and a half lengths and made a bit of history: his trainer, Jena Antonucci, became the first female trainer to win a Triple Crown race, a streak that spans more than a century.

The colt held off a late run by Forte to give his jockey, Javier Castellano, his first Belmont win. Castellano, a Hall of Famer, won his first Kentucky Derby five weeks ago aboard Mage. Arcangelo is a 3-year-old ridgeling that cost Blue Rose Farm owner Jon Ebbert $35,000 as a yearling.

It was welcome news for a battered old sport that has come under intense scrutiny after 12 horses died at Churchill Downs – two on the Derby’s undercard – and left the public questioning whether horse racing’s social license should be renewed.

The sport, too, was rocked by the news that Forte, the Derby favorite until he was declared unfit by Kentucky vets and scratched on the morning of the race, had failed a drug test last September after winning the Hopeful Stakes.

It was one of six failed tests by horses trained by Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher in the past 11 months.