Kentucky Derby 1-2 finishers Golden Tempo, Renegade rematch in Grade 1 Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets

In what is expected to be a competitive and memorable renewal of the Grade 1, $2 million Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets, 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 the Kentucky Derby winner Golden Tempo and runner-up Renegade taking center stage amidst a field of nine sophomores.

The 158th running of the Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets is slated as Race 13 on the 14-race card with a post time of 7:04 p.m. Eastern. First post is 11 a.m. and admission gates will open to the public at 9 a.m. 

Television coverage of Belmont Stakes Day will air across the FOX Sports family of networks beginning at 10:30 a.m. Eastern [FS1] prior to national broadcast coverage on FOX beginning at 3 p.m. For the complete Belmont Stakes Racing Festival television schedule, visit https://www.nyra.com/belmont-stakes/event-info/tv-schedule/. 

This year will mark the third and final edition of the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga. Beginning in 2027, the Belmont Stakes will return to its Long Island home at a new and re-imagined Belmont Park.

Due to the configuration of Saratoga’s main track, the 2026 Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets will once again be contested at 1 1/4-miles rather than the traditional 1 1/2-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” as they posted deep-closing efforts in a thrilling finish.

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, and did so in her very first attempt. 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.

Trailing as far as 17 3/4 lengths back, Golden Tempo picked it up while racing three-wide approaching the mile call and angled out to the seven path in the turn. He was at least 10-wide in the stretch, maneuvering around Renegade as they both collared Ocelli in the final sixteenth. Golden Tempo made one last surge in the final strides and edged clear of a game Renegade to claim the garland of roses by a neck in a final time of 2:02.27.

With less speed signed on in the Belmont than the Derby, DeVaux said she is hopeful that Ortiz, who won the Belmont in 2017 aboard Tapwrit, 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.”

The path to Derby glory for Golden Tempo ran through Louisiana, where he made each of his prior four starts around the main track at Fair Grounds Race Course. There, he graduated at first asking in a six-furlong maiden and stepped up to the big leagues for a late-running victory in the Grade 3 Lecomte when stretched out to 1 1/16 miles in January. That marked the only other win this year for Golden Tempo, as he went on to finish a willing third at the Grade 2 level in the Risen Star in February and Louisiana Derby in March, where he added blinkers.

The latter two performances led to Golden Tempo exiting the Derby starting gate at odds of 23-1, but his strong turn-of-foot propelled him to the upset victory over Renegade, who was the morning line favorite and went off as the 5-1 second choice.

“He’s going to run his race and where he is, the optics of it are [based on] what they’re doing in front,” DeVaux concluded. “It’s kind of just how the race unfolds in front of him and what Jose decides to do, as well as Golden Tempo. We’ve never wanted to change his running style, however, it does leave him vulnerable to pace dynamics not working in his favor. If there’s not a contentious pace, he should be closer in theory.”

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 Napoleon Solo at Laurel Park - to target the Belmont Stakes.

Golden Tempo is a Phipps homebred out of the Grade 3-winner Carrumba, with his female line tracing to Reine-de-Course mare Lady Pitt. He will look to provide the Phipps family with their second overall Belmont Stakes winner after capturing the “Test of the Champion” with Hall of Famer Easy Goer in 1989. Vinny Viola’s St. Elias Stable, co-breeder of Golden Tempo, searches for their first Belmont Stakes victory, their best finish a second in 2020 with Dr. Post.

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

Robert and Lawana Low and Repole Stable’s Renegade will look to turn the tables on Golden Tempo, and 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 Listed Sam F. Davis in February at Tampa Bay Downs and the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby in March at Oaklawn Park. The latter effort came in stylish fashion with a four-length stroll that earned a 98 Beyer Speed Figure, three points higher than the figure he and Golden Tempo earned in the Derby.

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.”

Pletcher said he welcomes the opportunity to rematch with Golden Tempo.

“That’s what you hope for in these Triple Crown races, a chance to hopefully turn the tables,” said Pletcher, who searches for his fifth Belmont Stakes victory after hoisting the August Belmont Trophy in 2007 [Rags to Riches], 2013 [Palace Malice], 2017 [Tapwrit] and 2022 [Mo Donegal].

Renegade has steadily made his way to the upper echelon of his crop. After a distant third in his career bow last August here, Renegade improved tenfold in a one-turn mile maiden effort in October at Belmont at the Big A, battling down the lane with subsequent dual Grade 2-winner Paladin and putting his head in front at the wire before being disqualified and placed second for interference in the stretch.

Renegade, who has been ridden by Irad Ortiz, Jr. in each race since that October effort, would clash with Paladin again in December in the nine-furlong Grade 2 Remsen, and landed two lengths back in second in his two-turn debut. Despite still being a maiden to commence his sophomore season, Renegade ran like a seasoned pro in the Sam F. Davis, kicking clear to win by 3 3/4 lengths, priming him for his strong effort in Hot Springs.

While Renegade’s efforts have each come from well off the pace, Pletcher said the talented colt is adaptable and can be closer to the pace if needed.

“I think with the way it’s stacking up, there doesn’t appear to be a lot of pace,” Pletcher said. “I think Renegade is tractable enough [where] if they’re not going real fast, he can be a little closer than he has been. In the Arkansas and Kentucky Derby, we kind of felt like there was going to be enough pace to run at that Irad wanted to let him settle and make his run. He’s adaptable enough to adjust to a really slow pace.”

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. His second dam, Dame Dorothy was a three-time graded stakes-winner under Pletcher’s tutelage, including the Grade 1 Humana Distaff in 2015.

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.

While Renegade has demonstrated a more patient running style, Pletcher has a likely pace presence as well as Powershift steps up off an impressive graduation at third asking on the May 2 Kentucky Derby undercard at Churchill. He annexed the 1 1/16-mile maiden against elders by 2 3/4-lengths in a final time of 1:41.86 with a pace-pressing trip under Ortiz, Jr., and netted the same Beyer Speed Figure as Renegade and Golden Tempo did 11 races later in the Derby.

“He’s always shown a lot of talent, and we got sidetracked a little bit when he didn’t fire at Tampa, but he regrouped and came back with a big race with a really good Beyer Figure,” Pletcher said. “Hopefully he keeps improving. Any time you can win a race [like that], it gives you some confidence and gives the connections confidence as well.”

The Constitution dark bay has made just three starts, but has kept good company since his debut in February at Tampa Bay Downs, where he finished a three-quarter-length second to returning rival and next-out Grade 2 Louisiana Derby-winner Emerging Market in a one-mile and 40-yard maiden. Powershift then stepped up to graded company in the Grade 3 Tampa Bay Derby one month later, but faltered and finished a well-beaten sixth under Hall of Famer John Velazquez in the event won by The Puma.

“I think Johnny was a little bit frustrated – didn’t get off to a great start in the race at Tampa, and that sort of took him out of the position we wanted to be in, in behind horses and taking a little more kickback than he did in his debut, so it just didn’t go right from the first step away from there,” Pletcher said.

Pletcher added his two entries present running styles that should allow them both to give their respective best efforts.

“I think Powershift will be forwardly placed and I think they complement each other’s running styles, which is always a plus,” Pletcher said. “You don’t want to necessarily run two stablemates that both have the same running style against each other. Powershift is in there because we think he’s legitimate. He’s not in there as a pacesetter, he’s in there to try and win.”

Luis Saez, winner of the Belmont Essential Quality [2021] and Dornoch [2024], picks up the mount from post 2 at 12-1 morning-line odds.  

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 color-bearers 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 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, who informed Brown after the race that Emerging Market had lost one of his shoes during the running.

“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. He 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, following his aforementioned debut graduation over Powershift, an effort that awarded him a career-best 97 Beyer.

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.

Seth Klarman’s Klaravich Stables will have two chances to secure its first Belmont Stakes victory after Growth Equity earned his spot in the starting gate with a stalking two-length score in the nine-furlong Grade 3 Peter Pan on May 9 at Belmont at the Big A. The effort garnered a 93 Beyer.

A son of Nyquist, Growth Equity broke his maiden with a prominent trip two starts back going a one-turn mile on March 20 at Aqueduct Racetrack. Growth Equity’s Beyer Speed Figures have improved in each of his four starts, which have seen him stretch out by one furlong each time since a six-furlong debut in July at Saratoga Race Course. Those stats convinced Brown to try the colt even further in the Belmont Stakes.

“Growth Equity is in great form,” Brown said. “He’s a late bloomer that is getting better as I run him longer, which I had hoped for but I needed to see – he’s not a very big horse. The last number he earned at a mile and an eighth really gave me reason to consider him for the Belmont.”

The $425,000 Keeneland September Yearling Sale purchase is out of the dirt sprint Grade 3-placed Wildcat Heir mare My Dear Venezuela, a half-sister to Grade 2-placed sprinter Selva.

Brown said Growth Equity does physically bear signs of the sprint influence on his bottom side, but his performances on the racetrack speak for themselves.

“That’s why I never really committed him to a race like this early on – I was looking at him thinking, ‘if he can get a mile and an eighth, I’ll take it,’ but he did it so well,” he explained. “He bounced out of there [the Peter Pan] good, and I like the way the horse is doing.”

Manny Franco, winner of the 2020 Belmont aboard the New York-bred Tiz the Law, rides Growth Equity from post 6, tabbed at 12-1.

Completing the Brown triad is Grade 1-placed Ottinho, who looks to build upon a second-place finish to runaway winner Further Ado in the Grade 1 Blue Grass on April 4 at Keeneland.

Tracking in sixth-of-7 under Prat, he was 11 lengths back in fourth at the stretch call, but responded willingly to pass a pair of rivals and land the same margin back of Further Ado. The effort produced his lifetime best Beyer of 89. He emerged from that effort with a bruised foot, and trained for the Belmont with the aid of a bar shoe.

Out of the Grade 2-winning Giant’s Causeway mare Quiet Giant, Ottinho is a half-brother to Hall of Famer Gun Runner and a full-brother to the Brown-trained Grade 3-winner Pretty Ana. The Quality Road bay graduated at second asking going nine furlongs in December at Aqueduct, followed by a third in the Listed Withers over the same course and distance.

Brown said the blue-blooded colt should appreciate more ground in the Belmont.

“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. “His big question will be, is he good enough? Can he do it fast enough and move his figures forward? The distance is not a question for him.”

Dylan Davis makes his second career Belmont Stakes appearance aboard Ottinho from post 5, tabbed at 20-1.

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 graduated at second asking sprinting seven furlongs in November at Churchill, and stretched out to one-mile with ease to annex the Listed Mucho Macho Man in January at Gulfstream. He followed with two narrow wins in Kentucky Derby preps when willing himself in front to take the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth by a neck in February and the Grade 1 Florida Derby by a nose in March, with both of those efforts coming from off-the-pace. Returning rival Chief Wallabee finished a respective second and third in those races.

The wins garnered respective Beyers of 101 and 100, but Cox does not believe Commandment bounced in the Derby, where he was 6 1/4 lengths off the pace in 13th through the half-mile and was bumped by Ocelli while making his bid in the lane before finishing 5 1/4 lengths behind Golden Tempo.

“I’m not going to go with he ran a flat race because of the two big runs in Florida,” Cox said. “I think he may have just run a flat race because he was not really where he needed to be. The dynamics just didn’t set up for him that day and I thought he was ready to run and ran well, just not maybe his ‘A’ race or the greatest setup for him.”

Cox, in search of his second Belmont win, added Commandment may utilize a more prominent trip.

“You’re not running against [17] horses like in the Derby, and it’s a shorter field and shorter run to the first turn as well,” Cox said. “A mile and a quarter over a mile and an eighth track, the race probably won’t be run as quick, and maybe he puts himself in a little bit more of a forward position.”

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.

Chief Wallabee [post 3, Junior Alvarado, 3-1ML] 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. Those efforts came on the heels of a 1 1/2-length win on debut in January at the south Florida oval, and propelled him to the Derby. Junior Alvarado has been aboard for each of the colt’s four starts.

“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 in company with Grade 1 Woody Stephens presented by Mohegan Sun contender Gilded Bandit, most recently covering five-eighths in 1:01.40 on May 30.

“He had a good work [Saturday],” Mott said. “I think he’s going into the race equally as well as he went into the Derby from what I can tell.”

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.

Completing the field is breeder Glenn Sorgenstein WC Racing, Inc. and Run Fast Racing’s Vitruvian Man, who makes just his second start this year for trainer Doug O’Neill, who attempts to win his first Belmont. The West Coast-based colt was recently bought into by Run Fast Racing, a partnership that includes the rappers Lil Yachty and Lil Wayne as well as Puerto Rican singer Rauw Alejandro.

The son of Vino Rosso, out of the Bernardini mare Caradini, is bred for distance, and O’Neill started him in a pair of grass tilts in Kentucky due to an absence of longer dirt maidens there last summer. He went on to graduate by a nose in a restricted 1 1/16-mile maiden when switched to the dirt third out at Keeneland ahead of a pair of on-the-board allowance-level efforts over dirt at Churchill Downs in November and the synthetic in December at Turfway Park.

“He’s a horse that from the word ‘go,’ he’s always acted like a special, talented two-turn type of horse, to the point where we even debuted him going two-turns on the grass because there was no dirt race at that point,” O’Neill said. “He had five starts as a 2-year-old, and at that point we decided to bring him to California and try to treat him like a Kentucky Derby horse and see what we had.”

In April, Vitruvian Man made his lone start of this campaign, finishing a 9 1/2-length third in the nine-furlong Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby behind by subsequent Kentucky Derby starters So Happy [9th] and Potente [12th].

“He ended up running a credible third in the Santa Anita Derby, and from there we started talking about the Belmont,” O’Neill said. “Even though it’s not a mile and a half, the mile and a quarter in the Belmont will suit him perfectly. Generally, you make those plans and God laughs, but it’s coming together, and he’s pulling us there. We know he’s going to be an outsider, but he’s training really well.”

Italian-born jockey Antonio Fresu vies to win his first Triple Crown event aboard Vitruvian Man from post 1, tabbed at 30-1 odds. 

America’s Day at the Races presents daily coverage and analysis of the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga Race Course on the networks of FOX Sports. For the complete broadcast schedule, visit https://www.belmontstakes.com/event-info/tv-schedule. 

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