Nine horses are set to run in the 2026 Belmont Stakes on Saturday at Saratoga Race Course, and Renegade has opened as the 2-1 morning-line favorite. The race goes at 7:04 p.m. ET, with a field that also includes Chief Wallabee, Golden Tempo and Powershift.
The Belmont is drawing search interest now because the field, odds and post time have been set only days before post time, and because this year’s race comes with a wrinkle. It will be run at 1 1/4 miles rather than the usual 1 1/2 because of Saratoga’s main track configuration, making the final jewel of the Triple Crown a different test than fans are used to seeing.
Renegade brings a clear resume into the race. He won the Arkansas Derby in March and the Sam F. Davis Stakes in February, and he was second in the Remsen Stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack in New York City in December 2025. Irad Ortiz Jr. will ride him, and Ortiz is chasing a third Belmont Stakes victory after wins with Creator in 2016 and Mo Donegal in 2022. Todd Pletcher trains Renegade, and he has already sent out Belmont winners in Tapwrit in 2017, Palace Malice in 2013 and Rags to Riches in 2007.
Chief Wallabee is next in the morning line at 3-1 and arrives with solid form of his own. He finished fourth in the Kentucky Derby, third in the Florida Derby in March behind Commandment and second to Commandment in the Fountain of Youth Stakes in February. Junior Alvarado gets the mount for Bill Mott, who also trained Drosselmeyer, the 2010 Belmont winner.
Golden Tempo sits at 9-2, but the Triple Crown picture has already been broken. He won the Kentucky Derby, yet no horse can sweep the series because he skipped the Preakness Stakes on May 16. Golden Tempo did win the Lecomte Stakes in January and finished third in both the Risen Star Stakes in February and the Louisiana Derby in March, giving the race another proven runner even without the chance at a sweep.
The setting also matters. Saratoga has hosted the Belmont Stakes since 2024, and the race is expected to return to Belmont Park on Long Island in 2027 after redevelopment is completed later in 2026. For now, the shortened distance and compact field should shape a sharper, faster race than the traditional Belmont, with the winner earning the final Triple Crown prize of the season.
