The doubters said Golden Tempo only won the Kentucky Derby because the pace fell apart. He answered them with the exact same run. On Saturday, June 6, Golden Tempo won the 158th Belmont Stakes at Saratoga Race Course, rallying from last place to claim his second Triple Crown race win of the 2026 season and silence every critic who questioned whether he was the real deal.
2026 Belmont Stakes Full Results
| Place | Horse | Jockey |
| 1st | Golden Tempo | Jose Ortiz |
| 2nd | Commandment | John Velazquez |
| 3rd | Renegade | Irad Ortiz Jr. |
| 4th | Chief Wallabee | Junior Alvarado |
| 5th | Emerging Market | Flavien Prat |
| 6th | Growth Equity | Manuel Franco |
| 7th | Vitruvian Man | Antonio Fresu |
| 8th | Ottinho | Dylan Davis |
| 9th | Powershift | Luis Saez |
Payouts
| Finish | Horse | Win | Place | Show |
| 1st | Golden Tempo | $14.00 | $7.32 | $3.88 |
| 2nd | Commandment | $7.02 | $4.08 | |
| 3rd | Renegade | $2.52 |
Additional payouts: $2 Exacta paid $111.34 and the 50-cent Trifecta paid $51.32. Golden Tempo’s team took home a $1.2 million purse.
How the Race Unfolded
Powershift set the pace early, with Growth Equity making a move on the outside to challenge. However, neither horse had enough in the tank when it mattered most. Golden Tempo, dismissed at odds of 6-1 despite being the Kentucky Derby winner, sat at the back of the field for most of the race, almost exactly mirroring his Derby run five weeks earlier.
Around the far turn, jockey Jose Ortiz began threading Golden Tempo through traffic. At the top of the stretch, the race was still very much open, but Golden Tempo found another gear and ran down the fading Chief Wallabee, then held off the late surge from Commandment to win by a little more than a length. Pre-race favourite Renegade, sent off at 9-5, finished third.
Why There Was No Triple Crown in 2026
Golden Tempo’s connections made the decision to skip the Preakness Stakes, choosing to rest the horse between the Derby and the Belmont rather than attempt all three races in five weeks. Napoleon Solo won the Preakness Stakes at Laurel Park. Because Golden Tempo did not compete there, no horse ran in all three races, meaning the Triple Crown was off the table before Belmont Stakes day.
When asked after the race whether Golden Tempo could have won the Triple Crown, trainer Cherie DeVaux kept it simple: “It’s not something I want to think about. We made our decision, and he won today, and we’re going to be happy about that.”
Cherie DeVaux Makes History
Cherie DeVaux became the first female trainer to win two Triple Crown races, having already made history as the first woman to train a Kentucky Derby winner when Golden Tempo won at Churchill Downs. Her day at Saratoga did not even begin with the Belmont. Earlier on the same card, her colt Englishman won the Woody Stephens Stakes in track record time, tying the track record set at Saratoga in 1978. DeVaux was born in Saratoga, making the venue a particularly meaningful setting for both wins.
The Broader Context: Derby-Belmont Double
Golden Tempo became just the second horse in two years to win both the Kentucky Derby and the Belmont Stakes in the same season. Sovereignty achieved the same result in 2025. Before that, the last horse to win multiple Triple Crown races in a single year was Justify in 2018, who went on to complete the full Triple Crown sweep.
About the 2026 Belmont Stakes Venue
The 2026 Belmont Stakes marked the third and final consecutive running at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, New York. The traditional home of the Belmont Stakes, Belmont Park on Long Island, has been undergoing extensive renovations since 2024. The renovated Belmont Park is set to reopen in September 2026, with the Belmont Stakes expected to return to its historic Long Island home in 2027.
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