Keys to Handicapping the 2026 Belmont Stakes!
Golden Tempo Wins the Belmont Stakes - Renegade 3d!
The 158th Belmont Stakes, held at Saratoga for the 3rd and final time, provided a dramatic finale to the Triple Crown Series with Golden Tempo delivering another late rally. Under jockey Jose Ortiz, the Kentucky Derby winner settled near the rear of the field before unleashing a powerful stretch run to win by 1 1/4 lengths.
His performance confirmed hist status as one of the most talented three-year-olds of 2026 and gave trainer Cherie DeVaux victories in bothe the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes and became the first women to win two Legs of the Triple Crown Series!
Commandment finished a strong 2nd after racing just a length in front of the winner near the back of the field and kept in touch with him as they both went 6 wide into the stretch and drove past the the leader Chief Wallabee but was not able to keep up with Golden Tempo but did finish 4 lengths in front of Renegade. The Brad Cox trainee stayed on willingly to the wire and proved that he belongs the Division's elite even though he could not match Golden Tempo's acceleration.
Renegade, the favorite, completed the Trifecta after a solid but somewhat frustrating effort, he remained in contention for much of the race but lacked the finishing kick that most fans were expecting after his 2nd place finish in the Kentucky Derby. He finished 3 1/4 lengths in front of Chief Wallabee in fourth.
Chief Wallabee completed the Superfecta as he finished 1/2 length in front of Emerging Market in 5th. He put in another respectable performance but he never seriously threatened the leaders in the final furlong as he faded to finish 4th.
The 1-2-3 finishers raced in 9th, 8th and 7th positions for the first 3/4 of a mile. They were dead last in a field of 9 runners!
There were 5 KY Derby horses in the field and they ran 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th.
Final time of the race was 2:03 2/5 which was the slowest of the three editions held at the Saratoga Race track. Again, I think this is just another indication of the weakness of the field and the now accepted training/racing methods and programs!
The race was run in front of 46,128 fans at Saratoga.
Wagering was strong with $116,077,378 on the days' 14 race card with $50,876,383 wagered on the Belmont Stales itself.
Our Belmont Stakes Picks:
In a (9) horse field our betting strategy requires us to identify 1A, 2B and 3C horses that are the main Contenders for making up the Exacta, Trifecta and Superfecta wagers. The A horse is our pick to get the win.
We made Emerging Market (6-1) our Top pick for getting the win. Since (4) of last (5) and (17) of (25) winners were last seen in the KY Derby where he finished 10th after losing a shoe and still looked to be coming on at the end of the race and had recorded a Sharp work since. He was the Bris Prime Power leader. Had the Critical sire side pedigree line of Raise A Native which was in (18) of last (31) winners of the Belmont Stakes. His trainer, Chad Brown, had won 2 previous Belmont S. using this same approach of skipping the Preakness S. and preparing for the 3rd Leg of the Triple Crown.
We made Emerging Market our A horse with Chief Wallabee and Renegade our B1 and B2 and Golden Tempo, Ottinho and Commandment our C1, C2 and C3 runners.
As you can see using our Bs and Cs runners gave you the Exacta, Trifecta and Superfecta.
The race looked to be Wide-Open as there was (5) runners with M/L Odds of between (2-1) - (6-1) with (2) of them at (6-1).
We also suggested that just might want to play a box in the Exacta, Trifecta and Superfecta of the (5) KY Derby runners as well as Keying the KY Derby winner and runner up on top and bottom of the Trifecta and Superfecta!
Those wagers all cashed. The $2 Exacta Paid $111.34, $1 Trifecta paid $102.64 with the $1 Superfecta paying $237.90.
In our Picks for the Pick 5, Pick 4 and Pick 3 wagers that ended with the Belmont Stakes, we had the winner in the 3rd, 4th and 5th legs of the Pick 5 which also took us out of the Pick 4 but were able to cash the $1 Pick 3 for $145.88 and the $1 Double for $68.39. We struckout in the Special $5 Double of the Metropolitan and Woody Stephens with the Belmont Stakes.
Up next is the Royal Ascot week of big Stakes races including (4) Breeders' Cup "Win and You're In" Challenge races!
Then it will be time for the two big Summer meets at Saratoga and Del Mar!
Watch Race Replay: