The $2 million Belmont Stakes (G1), the final jewel in racing’s Triple Crown, is set to be run for a third and final time at Saratoga Race Course on Saturday, with Kentucky Derby winner Golden Tempo and runner-up Renegade taking center stage amidst a field of nine Kentucky-bred sophomores. The 158th running of the Belmont Stakes is slated as Race 13 on the 14-race card with a post time of 7:04 p.m. Eastern.

Due to the configuration of Saratoga’s main track, the 2026 Belmont Stakes will once again be contested at 1 ¼ miles rather than the traditional 1 ½ miles. The Belmont Stakes will play host to a rematch between Golden Tempo and Renegade, who finished a neck apart in the “Run for the Roses.”

Derby Winner Seeks More History

Phipps Stable and St. Elias Stable’s Golden Tempo will look to continue a historic run for trainer Cherie DeVaux, who became the first woman to train a Kentucky Derby winner. She vies to join Jena Antonucci [2023, Arcangelo] as women to have trained a Belmont Stakes winner.

A sixth-generation homebred, Golden Tempo has been a model of consistency in his five starts, culminating in his determined victory over Renegade when rallying from last-of-18 with a well-timed ride from post 16 under returning pilot Jose Ortiz. With less speed signed on in the Belmont than the Derby, DeVaux said she is hopeful that Ortiz can settle Golden Tempo into a closer position to make his run.

“We just have to hope that a pace materializes with his running style,” DeVaux said. “If that does not happen, Jose is going to have to come up with ‘Plan B’ to where he just doesn’t give himself so much to do in the later stages of the race. I think Jose can either get him closer earlier, or he needs to start his run earlier, and that sustained run also is not ideal.”

Golden Tempo, who looks to become the 13th horse to complete the Derby/Belmont double, skipped the second leg of the Triple Crown—the Grade 1 Preakness won by Kentucky-bred Napoleon Solo at Laurel Park—to target the Belmont Stakes.

Ortiz will look to engineer a winning ride aboard Golden Tempo from post 9 with a morning-line assessment of 9-2.

Renegade Hopes to Turn Tables on Golden Tempo

Robert and Lawana Low and Repole Stable’s Renegade will look to turn the tables on Golden Tempo. Like his rival, he has never finished off-the-board in his young career. Renegade is one of two Belmont Stakes aspirants trained by Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher, who also sends out Powershift for Repole Stable.

Renegade, a son of Into Mischief, seeks his third win this season after making the Derby starting gate with wins in the Sam F. Davis in February at Tampa Bay Downs and the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby in March at Oaklawn Park. In the Derby, Renegade emerged from the inside post and was slammed at the start before traveling in 16th at the three-quarters call. He was bumped again in the stretch as he went wide and reeled in Ocelli in the final sixteenth before being caught late.

“He’s a tough, tough colt,” Pletcher said. “He’s resilient and determined. He seems to not mind a battle, and I think a lot of horses that get roughed up as much as he did in the first sixteenth of a mile in the Derby might not have recovered and finished the way he did. I was proud of his courage and effort.”

A $975,000 purchase at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale, Renegade is out of the Grade 3-winning Curlin mare Spice Is Nice, who was owned by the Lows and trained by Pletcher.

Irad Ortiz, Jr., a two-time Belmont Stakes-winner with Creator [2016] and Mo Donegal [2022], retains the mount from post 4 as the 2-1 morning-line favorite.

Chad Brown Enters Three in Belmont

Five-time Eclipse Award-winner Chad Brown has won several marquee races in New York and hopes to add an elusive Belmont Stakes triumph to his list of accolades with three chances in this year’s edition. His stable will be represented by the Klaravich Stables colorbearers Emerging Market and Growth Equity, as well as Three Chimneys Farm’s Kentucky homebred Ottinho.

Emerging Market, a chestnut son of Candy Ride, enters from a 10th-place finish in the Kentucky Derby, where he sat 2 1/4 lengths off the pace set by Six Speed and made a mild run before flattening out under returning rider Flavien Prat.

“Emerging Market has come out of the Derby good despite losing a shoe in the race,” Brown said. “I really like the way he’s doing. He lost a shoe in the first turn according to Prat and was close to a hot pace. He tried hard; it just didn’t work out for him.”

The promising colt won the Grade 2 Louisiana Derby by a head over Pavlovian in March in his second career start. A $185,000 purchase at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale, Emerging Market is out of the Empire Maker mare Wild Empress, a half-sister to 2009 Champion 2-Year-Old Filly She Be Wild.

Prat will hope to win his first Belmont Stakes as he guides Emerging Market from post 8 with a morning-line assessment of 6-1.

Commandment and Chief Wallabee Familiar Foes

Wathnan Racing’s Commandment has done little wrong in his six starts, winning four of them and already boasting a Grade 1 win on his resume for dual Eclipse Award-winning trainer Brad Cox. The son of Into Mischief impressed in Florida this winter and spring, going a perfect 3-for-3 at Gulfstream Park ahead of an even seventh in the Kentucky Derby.

“I do think horse racing is made up of ‘what have you done lately,’” Cox said. “Obviously that was not the performance we were hoping for in the Derby, but I thought it was a good run and think he’s a little forgotten. If you zero in on him and watch his race in the Derby, I think he ran very well.”

Commandment hails from a family with top-class experience at the Spa, with his dam Sippican Harbor having captured the Grade 1 Spinaway in 2018. The $500,000 purchase at the 2024 Keeneland September Yearling Sale will be ridden by dual Belmont Stakes-winning Hall of Famer John Velazquez from post 7 with morning-line odds of 6-1.

Mott to Send Out Chief Wallabee

Chief Wallabee [post 3, Junior Alvarado] added blinkers for a last-out fourth in the Kentucky Derby, where he raced in mid-pack before splitting horses in upper stretch and bumping with foes while giving a hard-trying effort and completing the superfecta for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott. Mott said he was pleased with how the blinkers helped the son of Constitution.

“I think we learned that it seems to keep him a little more focused,” Mott said. “He’s a pretty laid-back individual – he’s not someone that ducks and dodges or anything like that, but he’s just kind of curious.”

Chief Wallabee showed heart this spring in his efforts against Commandment, rallying from seventh-of-9 to come up a neck shy in the Fountain of Youth and racing more prominently in the Florida Derby to miss by a half-length.

“I think he’s done quite well for a horse that lacks the experience he does,” Mott said.

A Kentucky homebred for Michael Ball and Katherine Ball, Chief Wallabee has worked twice over the Saratoga Oklahoma training track, most recently covering five-eighths in 1:01.40 on May 30.

Mott, a two-time Belmont Stakes-winner, will attempt a repeat victory in the Belmont Stakes in tandem with jockey Junior Alvarado after teaming up to take last year’s edition with subsequent Horse of the Year Sovereignty. Mott’s other Belmont win came in 2010 with Drosselmeyer.

“That would be nice, I’d like that. It’d be fun,” Mott said of the idea of winning another Belmont.