2026 Belmont Stakes Contenders & Odds

158th Belmont Stakes at Saratoga | June 6

The 2026 Belmont Stakes Racing Festival will be held at Saratoga Race Course from Wednesday, June 3, through Sunday, June 7. Highlighted by the 158th edition of Grade 1, $2 million Belmont Stakes on Saturday, June 6, the 2026 Belmont Stakes Racing Festival will include 10 Grade 1 races among 18 graded stakes across five days of world class competition.

With a new and re-imagined Belmont Park to open for live racing on September 18, 2026, the Belmont Stakes will return to its Long Island Home beginning in 2027.

Golden Tempo skipping Preakness, will target Belmont Stakes

May 6 - Kentucky Derby winner Golden Tempo (Curlin) will bypass the Preakness Stakes.

The news was announced Wednesday by the colt's trainer, Cherie DeVaux.

The statement reads: "After much thoughtful discussion as a team, we have decided that Golden Tempo will bypass the Preakness Stakes. We are incredibly appreciative of the excitement and support surrounding the possibility of a Triple Crown run. The enthusiasm from racing fans, our owners, and our entire team has meant more to us than we can properly express. Golden gave us the race of a lifetime in the Kentucky Derby, and we believe the best decision for him moving forward is to give him a little more time following such a tremendous effort. His health, happiness, and long-term future will always remain our top priority. We are looking forward to pointing him toward the Belmont Stakes and are excited for what lies ahead with this very special horse. Thank you again to everyone who has supported and believed in this journey alongside us."

This is the second straight year in which the Kentucky Derby winner has not gone on towards the Preakness after Sovereignty (Into Mischief) opted to skip it last year en route to a Horse of the Year campaign.

Rich Strike (Keen Ice) also skipped the Preakness in 2022.

G3 Peter Pan Growth Equity Victor considering Belmont Stakes

May 10 - Growth Equity (Klaravich Stables) made a successful stakes debut with a two-length score under Flavien Prat in Saturday's Grade 3, $200,000 Peter Pan Stakes, a nine-furlong route for sophomores, at Belmont at the Big A.

Trained by five-time Eclipse Award-winner Chad Brown, the Nyquist bay was second in his first two career starts, both at sprint distances. Stretched out to Aqueduct's one-turn mile on March 20, Growth Equity graduated third-out by 4 1/4 lengths, validating that performance in the Peter Pan via a stalking victory over Listed Withers-winner Talk to Me Jimmy with Grade 3-winner Trendsetter in third.

"He looks good so far," Brown said of Growth Equity's status Sunday morning. "That was a nice step forward. I was glad to see him handle two turns. I thought that he ran well. I think the runner-up is a nice horse. So, that was a nice, positive move forward. No immediate plans yet, but I was very pleased with the race."

The Peter Pan is the traditional New York prep for the 10-furlong Grade 1, $2 million Belmont Stakes slated for Saturday, June 6 at Saratoga Race Course. The New York Racing Association, Inc. (NYRA) has waived entry and starting fees to the Belmont Stakes for the first three finishers of the Peter Pan.

"I'm going to see how the horse comes out of this race when we put him back under tack and out on the track," said Brown. "We'll keep an eye on [the Belmont Stakes]. We'll keep it as a possibility, for sure, but it is not the only possibility."

Another logical path could be the Listed $125,000 Pegasus on June 13 at Monmouth Park to the Grade 1, $1 million Haskell on July 18 there.

"Very well could be a good plan, I agree," said Brown.

Growth Equity earned a career-best 93 Beyer Speed Figure for his Peter Pan victory, showing Beyer improvement in each of his four starts thus far. Bred in Kentucky by Stone Farm, he was a $425,000 Keeneland September Yearling Sale purchase and is out of the Grade 3-placed Wildcat Heir mare My Dear Venezuela - a half-sister to Grade 2-placed multiple stakes-winner Selva.

On Saturday, Grade 3-winner Iron Honor and Grade 1-placed Ottinho, working together, breezed a half-mile in 48 seconds flat over the Belmont Park dirt training track.

St. Elias Stable, William H. Lawrence and Glassman Racing's Iron Honor captured the one-turn mile Grade 3 Gotham in February at Aqueduct ahead of a last-out troubled seventh in the local nine-furlong Grade 2 Wood Memorial presented by Resorts World Casino on April 4. The Nyquist bay is targeting a rebound in Saturday's Grade 1, $2 million Preakness, a 1 3/16-mile test for sophomores, held this year at Laurel Park.

"That work went well. Iron Honor came out of it very well. I'd say that we are in good shape to head over and try the Preakness," Brown said. "We will give him another shot going two turns."

Three Chimneys Farm's Kentucky homebred Ottinho was the runner-up to Further Ado in the nine-furlong Grade 1 Blue Grass last out on April 4 at Keeneland. The Quality Road bay went to Churchill Downs later that month to train and had a minor foot issue that Brown said has since been resolved. Ottinho is possible for the Belmont Stakes.

"I want to keep him as a Belmont possibility," Brown said. "I was pleased with that last effort. He had a minor issue with his foot that we discovered at Churchill, and we rectified that with a bar shoe. He seems to be very sound and moving forward again."

Highlighted by the 158th edition of the Grade 1, $2 million Belmont Stakes on Saturday, June 6, the 2026 Belmont Stakes Racing Festival will include 10 Grade 1 races among 18 graded stakes across five days of world class competition. Bet New York horse racing with OffTrackBetting.com online OTB!

Renegade Training at Saratoga For Belmont Stakes

May 8 - A strong group of some of racing's top performers have made their way to Saratoga Race Course's Oklahoma training track in advance of the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival slated for June 3-7 at the iconic upstate New York racetrack.

Leading the group is Grade 1 Arkansas Derby-winner and recent Grade 1 Kentucky Derby runner-up Renegade, who arrived in Saratoga on Wednesday for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher. The son of Into Mischief returned to the track on Thursday, and again on Friday morning for some light exercise in his first on-track appearances since finishing a neck second to Golden Tempo in the "Run for the Roses" last Saturday at Churchill Downs.

Renegade is in Saratoga to prepare for an intended start in the 10-furlong Grade 1, $2 million Belmont Stakes on June 6.

"He got back to the track yesterday and seems to be in good form," Pletcher said. "He seemed to bounce out of it [the Derby] well and shipped nicely. He's probably enjoying the cooler weather. He'll have a couple breezes between now and the Belmont, and I haven't really firmed up anything. We'll monitor him this week and see how he does."

Campaigned by Robert Low, Lawana Low and Repole Stable, Renegade was an emphatic four-length winner of the Arkansas Derby on March 28 at Oaklawn Park, an effort that earned him morning-line favoritism in the Kentucky Derby.

Renegade emerged from the inside post in the field of 18 as the second choice and endured a troubled start when bumped by squeezing rivals and pushed down further to the rail under Irad Ortiz, Jr. He tracked in 15th position at the three-quarters call and steadily made up ground while weaving through rivals and swinging wide into the lane and enduring more bumping. He took dead aim at the embattled pair of Danon Bourbon and Ocelli and reeled in those foes in the final sixteenth, but Golden Tempo was right on his flank after his bid from last and got his neck down over Renegade in the shadow of the wire.

Pletcher said he was proud of Renegade's effort after the trouble he endured.

"He was super game, and it was just unfortunate he got bounced around a bit," Pletcher said. "He still finished great."

Renegade would likely face a rematch with the Cherie DeVaux-trained Golden Tempo in the Belmont, and potentially Kentucky Derby fourth-place finisher Chief Wallabee, who is also in Saratoga for Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott.

"We always love the Belmont, and we're excited for him, and just hoping everything goes smoothly," said Pletcher, who has won the Belmont Stakes four times with the filly Rags to Riches [2007], Palace Malice [2013], Tapwrit [2017] and Mo Donegal [2022].

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