2026 Belmont Stakes Preview: The Favorites, Longshots, and Top Storylines to Follow

The nine-horse field includes Kentucky Derby winner Golden Tempo, but he’s not the favorite. Not even the second favorite.

Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., on June 6, 2024. Al Bello/Getty Images

The 2026 Triple Crown season concludes on Saturday with the Belmont Stakes. There will be no Triple Crown pursuit, but the race nicknamed the Test of Champions and the Run for the Carnations, among other monikers, still carries plenty of intrigue. Kentucky Derby winner Golden Tempo is in the field after bypassing the Preakness, while the victor of the latter race, Napoleon Solo, is sitting this event out.

Here are the top things to know for the Belmont Stakes.

New Location

For the third straight year, the esteemed Belmont Park in Elmont, New York, is not hosting its most esteemed race. That’s because the venue is undergoing construction and is expected to reopen for the 2027 Belmont Stakes. Saratoga Race Course in upstate New York will host the 2026 Belmont Stakes, just as it has the last two years.

The change in venue means a change in distance, with Saratoga being smaller than Belmont Park. Saturday’s race will take place over 1 ¼ miles, instead of the usual 1 ½ miles. That makes the Belmont Stakes 2026 the same length as the Kentucky Derby, so it’s no surprise that all of the favorites have experience from the Derby under their belts.

The Favorites

Despite winning the Derby at Churchill Downs five weeks ago, Golden Tempo isn’t the favorite on Saturday, nor is he even the second favorite. The Derby runner-up, Renegade, is the favored thoroughbred and certainly has the merits for that recognition. Renegade had won his two previous starts in impressive fashion. Meanwhile, prior to Golden Tempo’s improbable Kentucky Derby triumph, the horse had finished third in his two prior starts.

While Renegade is the favorite, and Golden Tempo is the third-favorite, Chief Wallabee slots in between the two. He is saddled by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, who won this race a year ago with Sovereignty. However, Chief Wallabee is a thoroughbred going in the wrong direction. He’s raced four times in his career, winning his debut. His second start saw him finish as runner-up, his third race saw him place third, and his fourth and most recent event saw him place fourth. What does that mean for Chief Wallabee’s fifth race?

The Longshots

After that top three, there are a pair of mid-shots in Commandment and Emerging Market. The former certainly has good genes, as he’s a half-brother to Renegade, and another half-sibling of those two, Sovereignty, won both the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes last year.

As for Emerging Market, he’s saddled by New York native Chad Brown. The trainer has three horses in the 2026 Belmont Stakes field, giving himself a 33 percent chance of winning, while the other two in his stable are Growth Equity and Ottinho. Growth Equity is coming off back-to-back wins, though he’s never raced against anyone in this year’s Belmont field, while Ottinho is sure to have the local support. Not only is his trainer a New Yorker, but Ottinho’s jockey, Dylan Davis, also hails from the Empire State and is the only American jockey in Saturday’s race.

Rounding out the field are two double-digit longshots in Powershift and Vitruvian Man. They also happen to be the two slowest horses in the field, per top Equibase Speed Figures. In Powershift’s favor is that his trainer, Todd Pletcher, has won this race four times, which puts him halfway to matching James Rowe’s record of eight wins. As for Vitruvian Man, his one advantage is that he’ll start on the rail. That spot has produced a record 24 winners all-time, which is eight more than any other post.

Notable Omissions

One person who won’t be at the 2026 Belmont Stakes is legendary trainer Bob Baffert. His 17 Triple Crown race wins are the most in history, and he saddled the last two Triple Crown champions in Justify (2018) and American Pharoah (2015). However, just as he did at the Preakness, Baffert is sitting out the Belmont Stakes with none of his horses in the field.

In fact, the entire Preakness field is bypassing this race. The three-week turnaround has much to do with that—Napoleon Solo’s next scheduled event is the Travers Stakes in mid-July.

What’s at Stake?

This is the 158th running of the Belmont Stakes, making it the oldest of the Triple Crown races, and having the lifetime honor of being a Triple Crown race winner is certainly an incentive for all involved. The monetary bonus doesn’t hurt either—this race has a $2 million purse, with $1.2 million going to the winner and his connections, which include the trainer, jockey, and owners.

Also, with this being the last race at the temporary venue of Saratoga, and at the shortened distance of 1 ¼ miles, a time record is certainly possible as there are simply far fewer Belmont races at this distance rather than 1 ½ miles. Last year’s winner, Sovereignty, set the speed record at 1 ¼ miles of 2:00.69. Breaking the two-minute barrier is certainly within reach, and just one horse over the last 100-plus years has finished the Belmont, at any distance, in under two minutes. That came in the pandemic-affected 2020 race, which was ultra-short at  just 1 1/8 miles, as Tiz the Law finished at 1:46.53 in his victory. That time won’t even be approached this weekend, but a fast pace could see one, or multiple, horses clock in under two minutes.

The 2026 Belmont Stakes will go to post at 7:04 p.m. ET from Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. A field of nine horses, all 3 years old, will compete over 1 ¼ miles on a dirt track. The race will be broadcast live on Fox and stream on the Fox Sports app and FuboTV.