Elmont, N.Y. - Robbed of the narrative horse racing longed to deliver, the 144th Belmont Stakes featured drama nonetheless Saturday, with Union Rags surging at the rail to spoil what was shaping up to be a wire-to-wire romp by Paynter.

Regarded as a prodigiously gifted but vexed colt, Union Rags edged Paynter by a neck, handing trainer Bob Baffert a third second-place finish in the season's three classics. Baffert's Bodemeister was edged by I'll Have Another in both the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes.

Union Rags, a bay colt who had a nightmarish ride in the Derby, completed the final and most daunting leg of horse racing's Triple Crown in 2 minutes 30.44 seconds.

"We always thought this horse had Triple Crown potential," said trainer Michael Matz, who replaced jockey Julien Leparoux with Belmont veteran John Velazquez for Saturday's race following Leparoux's rocky start and seventh-place finish aboard Union Rags in the Derby. "I do really think that this horse, when he has a clean trip and can show himself, is he one of the best 3-year-olds of this crop."

Saturday's pace was well off the 2:24 record that Secretariat set in the mile-and-a-half Belmont in 1973; that year he completed his Triple Crown with a crushing 31-length victory.

On an otherwise fast track, the moderate pace seem to frustrate race co-favorite Dullahan, who got shuffled back early and struggled to recover and finished seventh.

Atigun, with Leparoux aboard, finished third.

What makes the Belmont Stakes so daunting is its length; it is the longest among the three legs of the Triple Crown. But the pivotal distance Saturday was a matter of feet: The width of the opening that Paynter created when he drifted away from the rail on the stretch to allow Union Rags to poke his nose through.

"It was my dream, and he made it come true today," said Union Rags's owner, Phyllis Wyeth, 71, a former accomplished steeplechase rider and wife of the artist Jamie Wyeth. "I knew he could do it. Nobody would have gotten through on the rail other than Johnny today, I can tell you that. That was unbelievable. He just said, 'Move over. I'm coming.'"

While the finish was thrilling, there was no denying that the withdrawal of favorite I'll Have Another, who was vying to become the first horse to win the Triple Crown since Affirmed in 1978, reduced a potentially historic race to one that was more routine.

I'll Have Another was scratched and immediately retired Friday after tendinitis was diagnosed in his left front leg.

It wasn't that Saturday's 11-horse field lacked worthy contenders. Union Rags and Dullahan, co-favorites after the odds were adjusted following I'll Have Another's withdrawal, boasted speed and were more rested than a healthy I'll Have Another would have been, having skipped the May 19 Preakness Stakes in order to be fresh for the Belmont.

Paynter also skipped the Preakness but won an undercard race at Pimlico that day.

The crowd of 85,811 was less than the 100,000 promoters expected when a Triple Crown was at stake but well above last year's crowd of 55,779.

Horse racing has gone 35 years without a Triple Crown champion. And the fact that Saturday's top three finishers all skipped the series' middle leg to rest for the arduous Belmont raises the question of whether a Triple Crown winner is even possible in an era in which race horses are bred for speed rather than sturdiness.

The presence of I'll Have Another, the sport's best hope until Friday, was felt throughout the day.

A vendor on the track's picnic grounds gave out free posters of the colt with remarkable closing speed who won the Kentucky Derby by 1½ lengths and the Preakness Stakes by a neck.

A notable number of men in the smartly dressed clubhouse sported purple ties, a nod to I'll Have Another's purple silks.

NBC devoted much of its pre-race broadcast to the horse; its owner, Paul Reddam; trainer Doug O'Neill, and jockey Mario Gutierrez.

And in a winner's circle tribute roughly 40 minutes before post time, I'll Have Another was ceremoniously retired. Gutierrez, sporting a white dress shirt and tie in the saddle, gently stroked the colt's neck as flashbulbs popped. Then he dismounted, allowing O'Neill to remove the saddle one last time before a groom led the colt away, his stable pony Lava Man trailing behind.

So with a few photographs, I'll Have Another bowed out, having raced seven times in his career and, unbeaten and unbowed in 2012, won two of the sport's three classics.