Belmont Stakes ruling forces jockey and trainer to forfeit prize money

Golden Tempo crossed the Belmont Stakes finish first by 1 1/4 lengths in 2:03.49, but the biggest shock at Saratoga was what happened after the photo. The ruling tied to the race meant Jose Ortiz and trainer Cherie DeVaux immediately lost the prize money they normally would have collected from the winner’s share, turning a Triple Crown celebration into a sharp lesson in how the money really moves.

The numbers explain why the hit stings. The 2026 Belmont carried a $2 million purse, with $1.2 million to the winner and payouts through eighth place. The winning owner’s usual cut is 80 percent, or $960,000 before taxes. The trainer typically gets 10 percent, or $120,000 before taxes. The jockey’s standard share is also 10 percent of the winning purse slice, but that is not the end of it: 25 percent goes to the agent and 5 percent to the valet, leaving about $84,000 before taxes for the rider. On top of that, entry and starting fees can total $30,000, plus a $600 nomination fee, cutting further into the owner’s net.

That is the part too many fans miss when they see the check on the tote board. A marquee win does not always mean a clean payday, because the festival payout structure decides how the purse is distributed and how much is clawed back before anyone gets paid. The top eight finishers were paid in the Belmont, with second getting $360,000, third $200,000, fourth $100,000, fifth $60,000, sixth $40,000, and seventh and eighth $20,000 apiece. In a race this big, the ledger matters as much as the blanket.

Golden Tempo’s victory was the kind that should have been remembered only for the running line. The Kentucky Derby winner, who skipped the Preakness, rallied from near the back of a nine-horse field to give owner Vinnie Viola, DeVaux and Ortiz another major Triple Crown moment. It was the 158th Belmont Stakes, run June 6 at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York, with post time listed at 7:04 p.m. ET and a reported crowd of 46,128 during the June 3-7 Belmont Stakes Racing Festival.

The result also sharpened Golden Tempo’s place in recent Triple Crown history. He became the second straight horse to win both the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont while skipping the Preakness, following Sovereignty in 2025. Ortiz’s Belmont score was his third, after Creator in 2016 and Mo Donegal in 2022, while DeVaux added another milestone to a season that had already made her the first woman to train a Kentucky Derby winner and only the second woman to train a Belmont winner, after Jena Antonucci.