Belmont Stakes brings Kentucky Derby rematch to Saratoga Springs

Golden Tempo and Renegade will renew their rivalry Saturday when the 158th Belmont Stakes closes the Triple Crown season at Saratoga Race Course, where a nine-horse field of 3-year-olds will run for a $2 million purse at 7:04 p.m. ET. The race will be staged in Saratoga Springs, New York, for the third straight year because Belmont Park remains under construction, and the five-day Belmont Stakes Racing Festival will pack 25 stakes races into the week.

The rematch carries a very different shape from Louisville. Golden Tempo won the Kentucky Derby on May 2 at Churchill Downs at 24-1, sweeping from last to first in the kind of upset that made Cherie DeVaux the first woman to train a Kentucky Derby winner. Renegade, who chased him home in second, returns as the 2-1 morning-line favorite and drew post 4. Golden Tempo was assigned post 9 and listed at 9-2, a much tougher launch point than the one that set up his Derby charge.

That draw gives Renegade the clearest tactical edge on paper. Post 4 should let him establish position without immediately conceding ground, while Golden Tempo will have to solve the outside before trying to reproduce the late kick that carried him through the Derby field. The contrast is the key to this Belmont: Renegade has the steadier setup, while Golden Tempo has already shown he can overcome far more than an unfavorable post.

The supporting cast makes the rematch deeper than a two-horse replay. Commandment comes in off four straight wins before finishing seventh in the Derby, and Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez is slated to ride him. Chief Wallabee and Emerging Market also return from the Derby, adding more familiar names to a race that will tell a sharper story about durability than the Kentucky Derby alone. The New York Racing Association has Saratoga slated for 51 days of racing in 2026, with the Belmont festival at the center and the July 4th Racing Festival later in the summer, reinforcing how the track has become the temporary home of American racing while Belmont Park is rebuilt.