The horses in the 2026 Belmont Stakes are set. See the full field and their odds

The field for the final Triple Crown horse race of 2026 is set.

Nine horses are set to contest the Grade 1, $2 million Belmont Stakes on Saturday night at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York. This year’s edition of the Belmont Stakes will be the 158th running of the event.

While there won’t be a Triple Crown on the line Saturday, this year’s Belmont will bring plenty of star power together on the track.

Renegade, the Kentucky Derby runner-up, was installed as the morning-line favorite at 2-1 odds Monday during the post position draw for the race. A total of five horses from this year’s Kentucky Derby will run in the Belmont Stakes.

For the third straight year, the Kentucky Derby winner will race in the Belmont Stakes. Golden Tempo’s scheduled start in the Belmont will mark his first race since winning the Derby in come-from-behind fashion May 2. With that victory, Golden Tempo’s trainer, Cherie DeVaux, became the first woman to condition a Derby winner.

Golden Tempo was given 9-2 odds for the Belmont during Monday’s post position draw.

Golden Tempo’s connections chose to not enter the horse in the Preakness Stakes on May 16, which was the second leg of the Triple Crown. Napoleon Solo won the Preakness, held at Laurel Park in Maryland while its traditional home of Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore undergoes a major redevelopment.

Post time for the Belmont Stakes is 7:04 p.m. Saturday at Saratoga, which is hosting the race for a third straight year.

The Belmont Stakes is traditionally run at a distance of 1 ^1/2 miles at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York, but that track is unavailable due to ongoing renovations. So for the third consecutive year, the Belmont will be contested over a shortened distance of 1 ^1/4 miles at Saratoga.

Results for 2026 Belmont Stakes post position draw

Here’s the complete look at the Belmont Stakes field.

The results of the post position draw for the Belmont are below, with each horse’s morning-line odds, trainers, jockeys, owners and breeders listed in that order.

• No. 1: Vitruvian Man, (30-1), Doug O’Neill, Antonio Fresu, Glenn Sorgenstein WC Racing Inc., Glenn Sorgenstein WC Racing Inc.
• No. 2: Powershift, (12-1), Todd Pletcher, Luis Saez, Repole Stable, Liberty Road Stables.
• No. 3: Chief Wallabee, (3-1), Bill Mott, Junior Alvarado, Michael and Katherine G. Ball, Mike Ball and Katherine Ball.
• No. 4: Renegade, (2-1), Todd Pletcher, Irad Ortiz, Jr., Robert and Lawana L. Low and Repole Stable, Robert and Lawana Low.
• No. 5: Ottinho, (20-1), Chad Brown, Dylan Davis, Three Chimneys Farm (Goncalo B. Torrealba), Three Chimneys Farm.
• No. 6: Growth Equity, (12-1), Chad Brown, Manuel Franco, Klaravich Stables Inc., Stone Farm.
• No. 7: Commandment, (6-1), Brad Cox, John Velazquez, Wathnan Racing, Lee Pokoik.
• No. 8: Emerging Market, (6-1), Chad Brown, Flavien Prat, Klaravich Stables Inc., Stoneriggs Farm.
• No. 9: Golden Tempo, (9-2), Cherie DeVaux, Jose Ortiz, Phipps Stable and St. Elias Stable, Phipps Stable and St. Elias Stable.

Three of the top four finishers from the Kentucky Derby are racing in the Belmont Stakes. Those horses are Golden Tempo (the winner), Renegade (second) and Chief Wallabee (fourth). Ocelli, the longshot third-place finisher in the Derby, was projected to race in the Belmont, but he instead has been pointed toward the Ohio Derby later this month.

Ocelli also ran in the Preakness Stakes, where he finsihed fourth.

Ocelli’s absence from the Belmont means no horse will compete in all three legs of the Triple Crown this year.

Renegade, who lost the stretch duel in the Kentucky Derby to Golden Tempo, was made the morning-line favorite for the Belmont, which is a title he also had for the Derby. Renegade’s trainer, Todd Pletcher, is a four-time Belmont winner with Rags to Riches (a filly in 2007), Palace Malice (2013), Tapwrit (2017) and Mo Donegal (2022).

Bill Mott, who conditions Chief Wallabee, won both the Derby and the Belmont in 2025 with Sovereignty. Mott was also the trainer for 2010 Belmont Stakes champion Drosselmeyer.

While DeVaux is the first and only woman to train a Kentucky Derby-winning horse, a Golden Tempo win on Saturday would make DeVaux the second woman to condition a Belmont Stakes champion. The first was Jena Antonucci with Arcangelo in 2023.

Previously, 12 horses have won both the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes — but not also the Preakness Stakes — in the same year. Golden Tempo would become the 13th horse to pull off this double with a victory at Saratoga.

Brad Cox, who will saddle Commandment in the Belmont, is looking for his second win in the final leg of the Triple Crown. Cox won the Belmont Stakes in 2021 with Essential Quality.

Powershift and Emerging Market — who is one of three Belmont starters for trainer Chad Brown — each enter Saturday’s race with only three previous starts. It’s been at least 50 years since a horse won the Belmont after having three or fewer career starts entering the race.

A total of 20 horses that won the Belmont Stakes were sired by a horse who also won the Belmont. That won’t happen this year, though, as none of the nine horses in the Belmont field had their father win the race. Curlin, the sire of Golden Tempo, finished in second in the 2007 race by only a head.

Vitruvian Man is set to begin the Belmont Stakes from the most successful post position in race history. Since 1905, 24 horses have won the Belmont Stakes from post No. 1. The most recent horse to win the Belmont from the furthest-inside starting spot was Triple Crown winner Justify in 2018.

While Renegade has been set as the morning-line favorite for the Belmont, it remains to be seen which horse will leave the starting gate as the post-time favorite. Across the previous 157 runnings of the Belmont Stakes, 66 race-time favorites have won. That equates to a 42% win rate for the post-time favorite.

This year’s Belmont Stakes winner will earn his connections $1.2 million from the $2 million race purse. Earlier this year, Golden Tempo earned $3.1 million for winning the Kentucky Derby and Napoleon Solo earned $1.2 million for his victory in the Preakness Stakes.

2026 Belmont Stakes is the last one to take place at Saratoga

The 2026 Belmont Stakes caps a three-year stretch in which the race has occurred at Saratoga Race Course in New York while renovations take place at Belmont Park. But those renovations will soon be complete.

Belmont Park is expected to reopen in September, which means the track will be available next summer for the 2027 Belmont Stakes. The shift back to Belmont Park would also allow the Belmont to return to its normal distance of 1 ^1/2 miles.

Belmont Park is also set to host the 2027 Breeders’ Cup World Championships in October of next year.

In October, Keeneland is hosting this year’s Breeders’ Cup, which is considered Thoroughbred racing’s end-of-year championships. This will be the fourth time Keeneland hosts the event.

This story was originally published June 1, 2026 at 5:31 PM.

Cameron Drummond

Lexington Herald-Leader

859-242-5257

Cameron Drummond works as a sports reporter for the Lexington Herald-Leader with a focus on Kentucky men’s basketball recruiting and the UK men’s basketball team, horse racing, soccer and other sports in Central Kentucky. Drummond is a second-generation American who was born and raised in Texas, before graduating from Indiana University. He is a fluent Spanish speaker who previously worked as a community news reporter in Austin, Texas. Support my work with a digital subscription