The morning line frames Belmont Stakes 2026 as a Kentucky Derby 2026 rematch – and sides with the runner-up. Renegade, beaten a head by Golden Tempo in the Derby, sits atop the line at 2-1, ahead of 3-1 second choice Chief Wallabee and the 9-2 Derby winner, in a field of nine Saturday at Saratoga.
The 158th running of the final jewel returns to Saratoga for the final time as Belmont Park completes a $455 million reconstruction. The new plant reopens Sept. 18 and reclaims the $2 million classic – at its traditional 1 1/2 miles – in 2027.
This year’s edition covers 1 1/4 miles because of Saratoga’s smaller main track, the distance at which Sovereignty set the stakes record of 2:00.69 a year ago.
No Triple Crown hangs in the balance for an eighth straight year. Golden Tempo passed on the Preakness to point for the Belmont, and Preakness winner Napoleon Solo does not run Saturday.
Renegade drew post 4 and tops the line for Todd Pletcher, a four-time Belmont winner chasing a fifth and the trainer of two in the field. The Into Mischief colt was the Derby’s morning-line favorite before the 23-1 Golden Tempo ran him down, and he has never finished off the board (6: 2-3-1), with wins in the Listed Sam F. Davis and the Arkansas Derby (G1).
Slammed at the start and bumped again in the stretch at Churchill Downs, Renegade still rallied before being caught late. “He’s a tough, tough colt. He’s resilient and determined,” Pletcher said. “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.”
Pletcher welcomed the rematch. “That’s what you hope for in these Triple Crown races, a chance to hopefully turn the tables,” he said. With little pace signed on, he expects his colt can adapt. “Renegade is tractable enough that if they’re not going real fast, he can be a little closer than he has been,” Pletcher said. “He’s adaptable enough to adjust to a really slow pace.”
A $975,000 yearling, Renegade is out of the Grade 3-winning Spice Is Nice and from the family of three-time graded winner Dame Dorothy, both campaigned by Pletcher for the Lows. Irad Ortiz Jr. keeps the mount and seeks a third Belmont after Creator in 2016 and Mo Donegal in 2022.
Chief Wallabee, the 3-1 second choice from post 3, can give Bill Mott and Junior Alvarado a second straight Belmont after Sovereignty. The Constitution colt added blinkers for a fourth-place Derby finish and meets Commandment again after running second and third to that rival in the Fountain of Youth (G2) and Florida Derby (G1).
“No complaints about the post position. I think it’s fair, and it should be OK for us,” Mott said. “He doesn’t seem to have taken a step backwards since the Derby. It seems like he’s been on an upward progression.”
Chief Wallabee (4: 1-1-1) is a homebred making the first Belmont start for Michael and Katherine Ball. He worked five-eighths in 1:01.4 over the Oklahoma training track on May 30, and Mott liked the move. “I think he’s going into the race equally as well as he went into the Derby from what I can tell,” the trainer said.
Mott, a two-time Belmont winner who took the 2010 running with Drosselmeyer, relished another shot at the Spa. “We love Saratoga and we love the town, we love the racing up here,” he said. “It’s probably one of the best venues for racing there is in the entire country, maybe the world.”
The Derby winner lands third on the line. Golden Tempo drew the outside post 9 at 9-2 – longer than the rival he edged – after carrying Cherie DeVaux into the record book as the first woman to train a Derby winner, rallying from last to first under José Ortiz at 23-1.
A win would make DeVaux the second woman to train a Belmont winner, after Jena Antonucci with Arcangelo in 2023, and Golden Tempo the 13th horse to complete the Derby-Belmont double. The Curlin colt has hit the board in all five starts (5: 3-0-2), winning the Lecomte (G3) and running third in the Risen Star (G2) and Louisiana Derby (G2) across his first four trips at Fair Grounds.
With less speed in the field than the Derby, DeVaux is counting on Ortiz to settle the closer into position. “We just have to hope that a pace materializes with his running style,” she said. “If that does not happen, Jose is going to have to come up with ‘Plan B,’ where he doesn’t give himself so much to do in the later stages.”
She acknowledged the style leaves Golden Tempo exposed. “It does leave him vulnerable to pace dynamics not working in his favor,” DeVaux said. “If there’s not a contentious pace, he should be closer in theory.”
His path mirrors that of Sovereignty, who also skipped the Preakness before winning last year’s Belmont. A sixth-generation Kentucky homebred out of the Grade 3-winning Carrumba, Golden Tempo runs for Phipps Stable and St. Elias Stable. Phipps Stable, last a Belmont winner with Easy Goer in 1989, also won the 2013 Derby with Orb; St. Elias is co-owned by Vincent Viola. Ortiz, who won this race aboard Tapwrit in 2017, returns for the first time since piloting Nest to a runner-up finish in 2022.
A pair shares 6-1. Emerging Market, from post 8, gives Chad Brown the first of three runners; the trainer still seeks his first Belmont, his best a runner-up with Gronkowski in 2018. The Candy Ride colt (3: 2-0-0) lost a shoe in a 10th-place Derby finish after winning the Louisiana Derby (G2) by a head in his second start, and Flavien Prat seeks a first Belmont in a sixth try.
Brown sketched how he hopes his trio unfolds. “If everyone breaks clean, I’d like to see Growth Equity – especially being drawn inside – being just ahead of Emerging Market, who drops in, while Ottinho is out the back,” he said. “The pace of the race is a little suspect, which probably means there will be a couple pace horses and a couple mid-pack horses and definitely some horses with no speed – I know I have one of those.”
Commandment, from post 7, was seventh in the Derby for Brad Cox and John Velazquez after winning four straight, including the Florida Derby (G1) and Fountain of Youth (G2). The Into Mischief colt (6: 4-0-0) is out of Sippican Harbor, who won the Spinaway (G1) at Saratoga in 2018.
Cox thinks the colt is underrated. “Horse racing is made up of ‘what have you done lately,'” he said. “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.” He expects a more forward trip in the shorter field. Cox seeks a second Belmont after Essential Quality in 2021; Velazquez owns two, aboard Rags to Riches in 2007 and Union Rags in 2012.
Two more share 12-1. Growth Equity, from post 6, earned his spot with a two-length score in the Peter Pan (G3), the traditional local prep, and the Nyquist colt (4: 2-2-0) has improved his figure in each of four starts, stretching out a furlong each time. “He’s a late bloomer that is getting better as I run him longer,” Brown said. “The last number he earned at a mile and an eighth really gave me reason to consider him for the Belmont.” Manny Franco, who won the 2020 Belmont aboard Tiz the Law, rides.
Powershift, from post 2, is Pletcher’s other, for Repole Stable, a 2022 Belmont winner with Mo Donegal. The Constitution colt (3: 1-1-0) earned a 95 Beyer Speed Figure according to Daily Racing Form in a third-out graduation against older horses on the Derby undercard. “He’s not in there as a pacesetter, he’s in there to try and win,” Pletcher said, adding that the colt should be forwardly placed and complement the patient Renegade. Luis Saez, a two-time Belmont winner, rides.
Ottinho rounds out the Brown trio at 20-1 from post 5. The Quality Road colt (4: 1-1-2) was second in the Blue Grass (G1) and has trained in a bar shoe since bruising a foot in that race. “Ottinho is a horse that has been looking for a mile and a quarter his whole life and he’s finally going to get it,” Brown said. “The distance is not a question for him.” A half-brother to Hall of Famer Gun Runner, who stands at owner Three Chimneys Farm, he gets Dylan Davis.
Vitruvian Man drew the rail as the 30-1 long shot for Doug O’Neill, who seeks his first Belmont. “Love the shortest way around,” O’Neill said. “Vitruvian Man is training super. He certainly will benefit from the inside post.” The versatile Vino Rosso colt (6: 1-1-1) was third in the Santa Anita Derby (G1) and has raced on dirt, turf and synthetic.
“Even though it’s not a mile and a half, the mile and a quarter in the Belmont will suit him perfectly,” O’Neill said. “Generally, you make those plans and God laughs, but it’s coming together.” O’Neill knows the race’s heartbreak: his I’ll Have Another won the 2012 Derby and Preakness before scratching the morning of the Belmont with tendonitis. The colt, his fourth Belmont starter, is co-owned by Run Fast Racing, whose partners include Lil Wayne and Lil Yachty, and Antonio Fresu rides his first Belmont.
Belmont day carries six Grade 1s – the Just A Game, Jaipur, Woody Stephens, Metropolitan Handicap, Manhattan and the Belmont. Post time Saturday is 7:04 p.m. EDT, with TV coverage on Fox and Fox Sports 1.
No.
Silks
Horse / Sire
Rating
Trainer / Jockey
Last Start
Morn. Line
1
Vitruvian Man
Vino Rosso
7.39
Doug O’Neill
Antonio Fresu
3rd (107), 2026 Santa Anita Derby G1
30-1
Last Race
3rd (107), 2026 Santa Anita Derby G1
2
Powershift
Constitution
5.59
Todd Pletcher
Luis Saez
1st (115), CD MSW (5/2/26-R1)
12-1
Last Race
1st (115), CD MSW (5/2/26-R1)
3
Chief Wallabee
Constitution
7.80
Bill Mott
Junior Alvarado
4th (106), 2026 Kentucky Derby G1
3-1
Last Race
4th (106), 2026 Kentucky Derby G1
4
Renegade
Into Mischief
7.84
Todd Pletcher
Irad Ortiz, Jr.
2nd (109), 2026 Kentucky Derby G1
2-1
Last Race
2nd (109), 2026 Kentucky Derby G1
5
Ottinho
Quality Road
7.62
Chad Brown
Dylan Davis
2nd (113), 2026 Blue Grass G1
20-1
Last Race
2nd (113), 2026 Blue Grass G1
6
Growth Equity
Nyquist
7.37
Chad Brown
Manuel Franco
1st , 2026 Peter Pan G3
12-1
Last Race
1st , 2026 Peter Pan G3
7
Commandment
Into Mischief
7.89
Brad Cox
John Velazquez
7th (103), 2026 Kentucky Derby G1
6-1
Last Race
7th (103), 2026 Kentucky Derby G1
8
Emerging Market
Candy Ride
7.60
Chad Brown
Flavien Prat
10th (100), 2026 Kentucky Derby G1
6-1
Last Race
10th (100), 2026 Kentucky Derby G1
9
Golden Tempo
Curlin
7.86
Cherie DeVaux
Jose Ortiz
1st (109), 2026 Kentucky Derby G1
9-2
Last Race
1st (109), 2026 Kentucky Derby G1
