2026 Belmont Stakes Preview

Saturday, June 6 will be the 158th running of the Belmont Stakes -- and the last time it will be run at Saratoga.  The new Belmont Park is almost ready for live racing, which is scheduled to resume there this fall.  This also means that for the third year in a row the race will be run at 10 furlongs (1 1/4 miles) rather than the normal 12 furlongs (1 1/2 miles), which should favor some of the entrants and hurt some others.  With more and more trainers opting not to run their Kentucky Derby horses in the Preakness (opting instead for this race) there are several familiar names from five weeks ago going into the Saratoga starting gate for the scheduled 7:04 pm post.  Here is a partial preview of the field for the third leg of the Triple Crown as it now stands.  As always, good luck to all!

   

Contenders: 

   

Chief Wallabee (Post Position #3; Morning Line Odds: 3-1).  If you believe in the "defending champion theory", then this could be your horse as trainer Bill Mott won this race last year (on this track) with Sovereignty.  But Chief Wallabee still has only one victory to his credit although he added a pair of top-three finishes leading up to the Derby and gave Commandment all he could handle in two Derby preps.  From post 12 in the Derby, he was 10th for much of the early going but finished strongly to get up for a respectable fourth place as the front end speed fell apart. That the good news, but the not so good news is that a 70-1 longshot finished in front of him for third.  But the problem for you if you like the Chief is that you might not get fair odds as once again the Bill Mott runner is getting all kinds of buzz leading up to this race.

   

Commandment (Post Position #7; Morning Line Odds: 6-1). The Brad Cox-trained son of Into Mischief was a hot horse leading into the Kentucky Derby, having won his previous four races.  He broke slowly from post #6 as the fourth betting choice and had to race wide the entire way before running into some trouble in the stretch.  But he improved his position from 14th to seventh -- not always an easy thing to do in the Derby -- and finished strongly just five lengths behind the winner.  What makes him particularly attractive in this race is that he will likely be longer odds than either Derby winner Golden Tempo, runner-up Renegade, or the aforementioned Chief Wallabee.  Regular jockey Johnny Velasquez, who once again should be aboard Commandment, adds to his attractiveness.

   

Renegade (Post Position #4; Morning Line Odds: 2-1).  We've seen this movie before.  Todd Pletcher -- who has won this race more than any other active trainer (4 times) -- skips the Preakness with a talented horse and instead gets him prepped for the Belmont.  This year Renegade -- a son of Into Mischief -- is that horse. We saw this most recently with Pletcher's Mo Donegal, who won this race in 2022 and coincidentally follows an even more similar pattern to Renegade than those before him because Mo Donegal also had the dreaded #1 post position in the Derby.  But while Mo Donegal finished up the track from that inside position, what Renegade did was much more impressive, rallying to within a half-a-head of a Derby victory -- thereby almost becoming the first horse from Post #1 to win the Roses since Ferdinand 40 years ago.  But he will probably be the favorite and you will have to decide whether you like him enough to bet him at what will likely be odds around 2-1.

   

Pretenders:

   

Golden Tempo (Post Position #9; Morning Line Odds: 9-2).  Yes, we are making the Kentucky Derby winner a "Pretender" in this year's Belmont, and there are several reasons for this.  First of all, this son of Curlin had a golden trip from the 19 hole in the Derby, staying out of trouble the entire way around the track with all of the speed collapsing down the stretch to the inside of him.  This opened things up for jockey Jose Ortiz to make what looked like a miraculous run, passing multiple horses and getting up by the slimmest of margins.  In reality, the run wasn't really that miraculous and it looked a lot better than it actually was.  Yes, the story behind Cheri DeVaux becoming the first female trainer to win the Roses is a great one, but the fact of the matter is that there are several horses faster than Golden Tempo in this race today (and perhaps a couple of longshots that are at least his equal).  So, with what should be pretty short odds, this horse becomes one of the worst bets in the Belmont Stakes in a while.

   

Live Longshots:

   

Emerging Market (Post Position #8; Morning Line Odds: 6-1).  Every year we look for a wise-guy horse who didn't run his best in the Derby, took the Preakness off, and appears to be peaking leading up to the Belmont, while still flying somewhat under the radar.  This year that horse is Chad Brown's son of Candy Ride, Emerging Market.  Since Emerging Market didn't race as a two-year-old in 2025, you can throw his Derby effort out as he was sent off at 8-1 on the first Saturday in May, where he was within three lengths of the front for the first mile of the race before fading to finish 10th.  Chasing that insane pace in the Derby was a rookie mistake and we expect to see a much different horse this Saturday at Saratoga, a place where Brown certainly knows how to win big races.  Emerging Market is training lights-out, and leading jock Flavien Prat is back on board.  You might get 10-1.

   

Growth Equity (Post Position #6; Morning Line Odds: 12-1).  The same connections of Emerging Market (trainer Chad Brown and owners Klavarich Stables) also have this son of Nyquist who didn't run in either the Derby or Preakness, but who won the Peter Pan stakes at Aqueduct on May 9.  That's worth noting because, as the local prep for the Belmont, a Peter Pan-Belmont double is a combination that's had success in the past, most notably with the great AP Indy in 1992, but more recently with Tonalist (2014) and Arcangelo (2022).  Local rider Manny Franco won this race as recently as 2020 aboard the great New York-bred, Tiz the Law.  A repeat with Growth Equity would not be out of the question. And at odds likely to be higher than 10-1, you'll be handsomely rewarded if he crosses the wire first.

   

Ottinho (Post Position #5; Morning Line Odds: 20-1).  Here's yet another Chad Brown-trained 3YO who deserves a look at what should be a huge price.  This son of Quality Road impressed with his come-from-behind second place finish in the Toyota Blue Grass stakes at Keeneland (nobody was catching Further Ado that day) but was taken off the Derby trail in the week leading up to the race.  Now fresh, and apparently ready to try again in the Belmont, Ottinho may not be a "Win candidate," but as a longshot underneath in the exacta, he presents a very live opportunity.  Local jockey Dylan Davis doesn't hurt his chances to get a piece of this and don't be surprised if he's rolling late down the Saratoga stretch at what could be 25-1 (or higher).

Good luck, as always,
Al McMordie