While it was overshadowed by Justify’s Triple Crown win, Twitter had a ball after Gronkowski — the horse — staged quite the comeback to finish second at the Belmont Stakes.
The horse, named after and part-owned by New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski, spent much of the race in dead last. A late surge, however, ensured a second-place finish, and that was not lost on Twitter, who broke out the jokes.
first time i've ever seen Gronkowski unable to catch something
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) June 9, 2018
Gronkowski would have won if he hadn’t skipped OTAs. Clearly out of shape.
— Andrew Siciliano (@AndrewSiciliano) June 9, 2018
Gronkowski almost pulled at 28-3 comeback on Justify, who is now immortalized! #BelmontStakes
— Martyn Detz (@MartynDetz) June 9, 2018
In the Super Bowl, Foles beat Gronkowski
In the Belmont Stakes, a foal beat Gronkowski— Ryan Gilbert (@RGilbertSOP) June 9, 2018
I am telling you. Check the tapes on Gronkowski. Never trust those Patriots. They’ve moved on from cheating in football, to cheating on horse racing. #BelmontStakes
— Becky (@rebeccaleigh423) June 9, 2018
One popular joke was pointing out that Gronkowski fell short to Justify, part-owned by Chris Mara, New York Giants vice president of player evaluation and brother of owner John Mara.
Yup. Gronk was really close on the Hail Mary, but wound up falling just short to Mara’s team. https://t.co/O2mARQfu6l
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) June 9, 2018
The jokes were a bit more cutting from NBC Sports Philadelphia, though.
Gronkowski finished second again.
— NBC Sports Philadelphia (@NBCSPhilly) June 9, 2018
Clearly, it’s been a pretty eventful 36 hours for everyone associated with the Gronkowski name.
