NEW YORK (AP) – Jazil dazzled in the $1 million Belmont Stakes.

With a steady rally from last-to-first, Jazil won the final leg of the Triple Crown on Saturday over a lackluster field missing the Kentucky Derby and Preakness winners.

Without Barbaro and Bernardini, the Belmont lacked its usual buzz, but 18-year-old Panamanian jockey Fernando Jara and Jazil had the crowd on its feet and cheering after beating Bluegrass Cat by 1 lengths.

Jazil gave trainer Kiaran McLaughlin his first win in a Triple Crown race, and Dubai’s sheiks a second straight win in a classic.

The 3-year-old Jazil is owned by Sheik Hamdan’s Shadwell Stable, while Bernardini is owned by Sheik Mohammed’s Darley Stable.

“When he made the lead, I started looking for the wire,” McLaughlin said. “But when you make the lead and no one’s gaining on you, it’s a good feeling.”

Jazil wove his way through the tightly packed 12-horse field, and Jara angled his bay colt to the outside for the stretch run and surprising win in the 1-mile Belmont, the longest and most grueling race of the Triple Crown.

This Belmont marked the third time in 36 years the Derby and Preakness winners missed the race, and relegated it to more of a test of the leftovers than its usual reference as the “Test of the Champion.”

But McLaughlin and Jara will take the victory, which came five weeks after Jazil finished in a dead heat for fourth with Brother Derek in the Derby.

“I was very confident when he was weaving through at the five-eighths pole to the quarter pole,” McLaughlin said. “He moved along side Bluegrass Cat going the right way. Then I was very confident.”

Jazil won in 2:27.81 and returned $14.40, $6.70 and $4.70.

Trainer Todd Pletcher had the second and third-place finishers. Bluegrass Cat paid $6.40 and $4.70, while Sunriver paid $6.10. Pletcher, the nation’s top trainer, is now 0-for-21 in Triple Crown races.

“If it were anyone besides me, I was rooting for Kiaran,” said Pletcher, who like McLaughlin was a former assistant to Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas. “He is one of my best friends, a great person.”

, and I am very, very happy for him. I am disappointed. There is no consolation in second for me.”

Jazil came into the Belmont with only a maiden victory last year, and was 0-for-4 this year. But the colt picked a good time to win one of racing’s biggest events, even without Barbaro and Bernardini in the field.

Barbaro, the brilliant 3-year-old hailed as a Triple Crown threat after his dominating 6-length victory in the Derby, shattered three bones in his right hind leg at the start of the Preakness, and is convalescing at a hospital in Pennsylvania.

Bernardini, who took the Preakness by 5 lengths, was back at his Belmont barn after Sheik Mohammed decided to rest the colt for a summer campaign that will include the Travers Stakes at Saratoga in August.

That left the Belmont with the also-rans – five horses from the Derby, two from the Preakness and five in their first Triple Crown race. It was a far cry from six of the last nine years, when there were Triple ties on the line and record crowds showing up only to be disappointed each time.

Under sunny skies and gusty winds, a crowd of 61,168 was on hand, well off the record of 120,139 set two years ago for Smarty Jones’ Triple attempt but a figure New York racing officials were hoping to reach.

Bob and John, who went off as the slight favorite at 9-2, took the lead and held it for the first mile before Bluegrass Cat and eventually Jazil ranged into contention around the turn.

Steppenwolfer made his usual late run to finish fourth, followed by Oh So Awesome, Hemingway’s Key, Platinum Couple, Bob and John, Sacred Light, High Finance, Deputy Glitters and Double Galore, who was pulled up but finished the race.

With the victory, his second in eight career starts, Jazil earned $600,000 to boost his bankroll to $872,217.

Although the race had an exciting finish, the end of the Triple Crown series will be remembered more for who wasn’t in the Belmont than who was.

The Triple Crown season fell apart with Barbaro’s horrifying breakdown. It had racing fans caring less about the Belmont and more about the brilliant colt’s chances of survival in the buildup to the Belmont. Positive daily updates on Barbaro’s health buoyed the racing world, and ABC/ESPN had live reports on Barbaro from the University of Pennsylvania’s George D. Widener Hospital for Large Animals in Kennett Square, Pa.