Nine horses are entered in the 2026 Belmont Stakes, which will be run Saturday, June 6, at Saratoga Race Course over 1 1/4 miles, with Renegade installed as the 2-1 morning-line favorite.
Renegade heads the board at 2-1 and will be ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr.; Chief Wallabee is listed at 3-1 and will carry Junior Alvarado, and Kentucky Derby winner Golden Tempo is the 9-2 choice. Powershift is on the morning line at 12-1.
Todd Pletcher trains Renegade and also sends out Powershift on Saturday; Bill Mott trains Chief Wallabee. Pletcher’s barn includes multiple past Belmont winners, and Ortiz is seeking a third Belmont victory after winning aboard Creator in 2016 and Mo Donegal in 2022.
The recent form notes are straightforward: Renegade won the Arkansas Derby in March and the Sam F. Davis Stakes in February and finished second to Golden Tempo in the Kentucky Derby by a neck. Golden Tempo skipped the Preakness Stakes on May 16 and arrives at Saratoga off a campaign that began with a Lecomte Stakes victory in January.
Chief Wallabee brings a steady résumé—fourth in the Kentucky Derby, third in the Florida Derby in March and a runner-up finish in the Fountain of Youth in February—and will be ridden by Alvarado, who piloted Sovereignty to last year’s Derby and Belmont wins. Other named runners in the nine-horse field include Ottinho and Growth Equity, each with graded-stakes form on their résumés.
The race is being run at Saratoga for the third straight year at the shorter 1 1/4-mile distance, not the customary 1 1/2 miles run at Belmont Park; that adjustment changes the type of horse favored and how connections approach tactics. The event will return to Belmont Park in 2027 after redevelopment is completed later in 2026.
There is real volatility beneath the morning line. Renegade is the public choice, but since 2000 the favorite has won the Belmont only seven times and has failed to finish in the top three on eight occasions. Saratoga’s recent Belmont winners—Dornoch and Arcangelo—produced $37.40 and $17.80 returns on $2 win wagers, a reminder that the shorter distance and local track quirks can produce unexpected payoffs.
Post time is scheduled for approximately 7:04 p.m. ET on Saturday. Trainers and bettors will watch early speed and how the field settles into the race’s middle stages at the 1 1/4-mile trip, where tactical position and late kick both matter to different degrees than at the traditional Belmont distance.
The clear question left unsettled is which of the nine starters—Renegade, the Derby winner Golden Tempo, Chief Wallabee or another contender—will produce the answer on Saratoga’s track Saturday night.
