Belmont Stakes 2026 Horses and Jockeys with Best Odds at Saratoga Race
The 2026 Belmont Stakes is slated for Saturday evening, and it will bring this year's Triple Crown series to a close.
There will be no Triple Crown winner this year, of course, as Kentucky Derby winner Golden Tempo was held out of the Preakness Stakes. Preakness winner Napoleon Solo won't be in Saturday's field, either, though Golden Tempo will have a shot to win two of three.
We Sovereignty do just that a year ago, becoming the first horse to win two of three Triple Crown races since Justify won all three in 2018.
Unsurprisingly, Golden Tempo is among the early Belmont favorites. Here, you'll find a look at the other top contenders and the jockeys set to steer them on Saratoga Race Course this weekend.
The 158th Belmont Stakes
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When: Saturday, June 6
Post Time: 7:04 p.m. ET
Where: Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, NY
Distance: 1¼ miles
Prize Purse: $2 Million ($1.2 Million to winner)
TV and Live Stream: Fox and Fox One
Horses, Jockeys and Odds
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1. Vitruvian Man (Antonio Fresu) 30-1
2. Powershift (Luis Saez) 12-1
3. Chief Wallabee (Junior Alvarado) 3-1
4. Renegade (Irad Ortiz Jr.) 2-1
5. Ottinho (Dylan Davis) 20-1
6. Growth Equity (Manuel Franco) 12-1
7. Commandment (John R. Velazquez) 6-1
8. Emerging Market (Flavien Prat) 6-1
9. Golden Tempo (José Ortiz) 9-2
*Odds from NYRA.com
Favorites and Best Odds
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Golden Tempo is one of the early favorites, and it's not hard to understand why. The Cherie DeVaux-trained horse should be rested after skipping the Preakness, and it won a similar race at Churchill Downs.
The Belmont is typically a 1½ mile distance, but for the third straight year, the race will be held at Saratoga Race Course during Belmont Park's ongoing renovations. This means that Saturday's race will again equal the Kentucky Derby's 1¼ mile distance.
The problem for Golden Tempo is that winning the Kentucky Derby required a come-from-behind race—actually, a last-to-first run. With a field half as big as the Derby's, traffic is unlikely to hold back the front-runners.
Having the outside position to start won't help matters for Golden Tempo and jockey José Ortiz. At 9-2 odds, bettors might want to look elsewhere.
Renegade is the odds-on favorite at 2-1. The Todd A. Pletcher-trained horse narrowly lost the Derby after being overtaken in the very final stretch by Golden Tempo. A clean start by jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. could put Renegade out front and keep him there.
However, Renegade isn't nearly enough of a "sure thing" to justify 2-1 odds.
Bettors looking to back a longer shot should consider Commandment. The Brad H. Cox-trained horse won four straight races, including the Florida Derby, before getting caught in traffic at Churchill Downs and lagging to a seventh-place finish.
Cox believes the switch to jockey John R Velazquez could lead to a better result.
"You can't go wrong when you lug him up on a horse," Cox said in a National Thoroughbred Racing Association teleconference (h/t Lillian Davis of Paulick Report).
Velazquez has six Triple Crown wins on his resume.
Ed DeRosa of The Courier Journal likes another horse who logged a disappointing Derby finish (10th), Emerging Market:
"Emerging Market made a strong middle move in the Kentucky Derby—one that if Emerging Market was a superstar would have put him in position to win. He wasn't good enough then, but that was only his third career start, and now Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown has had five weeks to get this one into top form."
Brown is sticking with jockey Flavien Prat, who has previously won both the Kentucky Derby (2019) and the Preakness (2021).
If Prat and Emerging Market—who, it's worth noting, won the Louisiana Derby over Golden Tempo—learn from their last run, they could indeed cash in on favorable odds.
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