Afleet Alex took the lead entering the home stretch and ran to a seven-length victory in the 137th Belmont Stakes on Saturday, giving the 3-year-old bay colt the last two legs of thoroughbred racing's Triple Crown.

Afleet Alex, the pre-race favourite owned by former Bermuda resident John Silvertand, covered the 1.5 miles at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York, in 2 minutes, 28 3/5 seconds.

"I knew I had the best horse," winning jockey Jeremy Rose said in an interview with NBC Sports. "The only thing that might get him beat was me. I stayed out of his way and let him do his thing at the last pole."

Andromeda's Hero was second and Nolan's Cat was third, 14 lengths off the pace. Giacomo, winner of the Kentucky Derby to start the Triple Crown series last month, finished seventh, 17 3/4 lengths back.

Afleet Alex won the Preakness Stakes in Baltimore three weeks ago and became the 18th horse to complete the Preakness-Belmont double. He finished third in the Kentucky Derby as the second betting choice.

"If somebody told us at the beginning of March we'd win two- thirds of the Triple Crown, we'd be ecstatic," Afleet Alex's trainer, Tim Ritchey, said in a televised news conference.

The race drew a crowd of 62,274, about half last year's record attendance of 120,139 that watched Smarty Jones go for the Triple Crown. This year was the first time since 2001 that the Triple Crown wasn't at stake in the Belmont.

Indy Storm finished fourth, followed by A.P. Arrow, Chekhov, Giacomo, Southern Africa, Watchmon, Reverberate and Pinpoint, who finished 34 3/4 lengths behind the winner.

Afleet Alex started from the No. 10 post in the 11-horse field and settled in at the back of the pack on the rail entering the first turn, with Pinpoint and A.P. Arrow in the lead. Pinpoint had the lead as the horses started the backstretch, with Giacomo fifth and Alfeet Alex ninth.

Afleet Alex started to make his move as he approached the far turn. As Giacomo took the lead in the turn, Rose started to move Afleet Alex through a pack of horse with about a half-mile remaining.

As the horses came out of the turn, Afleet Alex pulled even with Giacomo, then blew past the Derby winner and pulled away from the field.

"He was dynamite and he ran like a freight train," Ritchey said. "When we asked him, he just exploded."

Andromeda's Hero and Nolan's Cat both came off the outside to settle into second and third place coming down the stretch and hit the finish line in that order as Giacomo faded.