Golden Tempo closes the 2026 Triple Crown season with win in Belmont Stakes
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- Golden Tempo won the 2026 Belmont Stakes on Saturday night at Saratoga Race Course.
- Golden Tempo is trained by Cherie DeVaux and was ridden by Jose Ortiz in the Belmont.
- Horse racing’s 2026 season ends without a Triple Crown winner.
Golden Tempo closed the 2026 horse racing Triple Crown season with a win in the Grade 1, $2 million Belmont Stakes on Saturday night over 1 and 1/4 miles on a fast main track at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York.
Trained by Cherie DeVaux and ridden by Jose Ortiz, Golden Tempo claimed two of the three legs of this year’s horse racing Triple Crown. He also won the Kentucky Derby on May 2.
Golden Tempo prevailed from a field of nine horses in the Belmont, which featured five horses who also raced May 2 in the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville. His winning time in the Belmont was 2 minutes, 3.49 seconds.
With his victory, Golden Tempo made DeVaux the first female trainer to win two legs of the Triple Crown. Last month, DeVaux became the first woman to condition the Kentucky Derby winner when Golden Tempo hit the wire first in the Run for the Roses.
DeVaux is the second woman to train a Belmont Stakes winner following Jena Antonucci in 2023 with Arcangelo.
Golden Tempo was initially assigned 9-2 morning-line odds for the Belmont during Monday evening’s post position draw, but the horse went off at 6-1 odds in the starting gate.
Commandment finished second in the Belmont, followed by post-time favorite Renegade in third and Chief Wallabee in fourth.
A $1 exacta with Golden Tempo and Commandment paid $55.67. A $1 trifecta with those horses and Renegade paid $102.64. A $1 superfecta with those horses and Chief Wallabee paid $237.98.
Once again, Golden Tempo went from last-to-first to win the Belmont, just like he did in the Kentucky Derby. On the backstretch, Golden Tempo was 12 lengths off the lead before emerging in the stretch to out-duel Commandment by a length at the wire.
The fractions for this year’s Belmont Stakes were a moderate 23.96 seconds for the opening quarter-mile, 48.29 seconds for the opening half-mile, 1:12.38 for the opening 3/4 mile and 1:37.56 for the opening mile. Powershift and Growth Equity, who both finished out of the money, set the early Belmont pace. Rain began at Saratoga just before the start of the race.
Golden Tempo is a Phipps Stable and St. Elias Stable homebred. Golden Tempo’s sire is Curlin and his dam is Carrumba, who was by Bernardini. Golden Tempo has now won four of his six career starts. Ortiz, Golden Tempo’s jockey, has his second win in the Belmont Stakes after also winning the event in 2017 aboard Tapwrit.
As a result of winning this year’s Belmont Stakes, Golden Tempo has earned his connections $1.2 million from the $2 million race purse.
Earlier this year, Golden Tempo banked his connections $3.1 million for winning the Kentucky Derby. Napoleon Solo earned $1.2 million for his victory in the Preakness Stakes last month.
This year marked the 158th running of the Belmont Stakes, and the third straight edition of it to take place away from its normal home. Traditionally run at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York, the Belmont Stakes has been moved to Saratoga in each of the past three years due to ongoing renovations at Belmont Park.
The Belmont’s distance has also been shortened in recent years due to the venue change. The Belmont Stakes is normally run at a distance of 1 and 1/2 miles at Belmont Park, but at Saratoga the race is contested over 1 and 1/4 miles on the main track.
The Belmont Stakes is expected to return to Belmont Park next year at its normal distance, with that track expected to reopen in September.
No Triple Crown winner for horse racing in 2026
Long before Saturday’s Belmont was contested, it was known that there wouldn’t be a Triple Crown winner for horse racing this year.
That’s because Golden Tempo didn’t race in the Preakness Stakes. The horse’s connections opted against running Golden Tempo in the Preakness on just two weeks of rest. This was the second straight year in which the Kentucky Derby winner didn’t compete in the Preakness. No horse raced in all three Triple Crown events this year.
It’s also the second straight year in which the same horse won the Derby, skipped the Preakness and then won a shortened Belmont at Saratoga. Sovereignty also pulled off this feat last year.
Napoleon Solo emerged from a field of 14 runners to win the Preakness Stakes on May 16 in a race that also wasn’t held at its normal track. This year’s Preakness was contested at Laurel Park in Laurel, Maryland, instead of at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, which is undergoing a major redevelopment.
The most recent Triple Crown winner remains Justify in 2018. In total, 13 horses have won all three classic races in the same year to claim horse racing’s Triple Crown. Those horses are Sir Barton (1919), Gallant Fox (1930), Omaha (1935), War Admiral (1937), Whirlaway (1941), Count Fleet (1943), Assault (1946), Citation (1948), Secretariat (1973), Seattle Slew (1977), Affirmed (1978), American Pharoah (2015) and Justify (2018).
Golden Tempo is the 13th horse to win both the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes — but not also the Preakness Stakes — in the same year.
In a few months, horse racing fans will turn their attention back to Central Kentucky. Keeneland is hosting this year’s Breeders’ Cup, which is considered Thoroughbred racing’s year-end championships, in October. This will be the fourth time Keeneland hosts the event, which runs Oct. 30 and Oct. 31 at the Lexington track.
This story was originally published June 6, 2026 at 7:26 PM.
