Palace Malice wins Belmont Stakes

Story highlights

South Carolina-bred Palace Malice outduels Oxbow down the stretch to win

Kentucky Derby winner Orb comes in third

"It was really a sneaky good race," jockey Mike Smith says

There were three different winners in the three Triple Crown races

CNN  — 

Palace Malice won the 2013 Belmont Stakes, the third leg of horse racing’s Triple Crown, on Saturday.

The South Carolina-bred three-year-old outdueled Oxbow down the stretch to win the 1½ mile race. Oxbow, the Preakness Stakes victor, ended up in second.

Orb – this year’s Kentucky Derby winner and Saturday’s pre-race favorite at 2-to-1 odds – finished third.

“It was really a sneaky good race, never took a breather one time,” Palace Malice’s jockey Mike Smith told NBC, which broadcast the race. “He was just enjoying the trip.”

Palace Malice had entered the 145th running of the Belmont as an underdog, at 15-to-1 odds. The colt’s last race was a 12th place finish at the Kentucky Derby earlier this spring.

Trained by Todd Pletcher, Palace Malice had one previous victory in seven starts, a pair of second-place finishes and a third.