Belmont Stakes 2026: Post Positions, Morning Line Odds

The third leg of the Triple Crown is on the horizon and for the second straight year, the Kentucky Derby winner is not the morning line favorite in the Belmont Stakes.

Fresh off a win in the Preakness, Journalism was the 8-5 favorite, slightly ahead of Sovereignty at 2-1. The latter ultimately got the last laugh with a triumphant gallop in New York after skipping the second leg of the Triple Crown. This year, the top two choices both skipped the trip to Baltimore.

Renegade rallied from the rail in the Kentucky Derby and appeared to be on track to win the run for the roses. Golden Tempo‘s late run down the center of the track made Cherie DeVaux the first woman ever to train a Derby winner.

Just like on the first Saturday of May, Golden Tempo drew an outside post. The Kentucky Derby winner will race from the No. 9 spot on the far outside of the Belmont Stakes field.

“It is ideal for his running style,” DeVaux said at the Belmont Stakes post position draw. “As opposed to being inside when horses are crossing over in front of you, on the outside, the horses will break, and he’ll just find his footing, probably behind the field again, as he has in all of his races.”

Golden Tempo is the third choice at 9-2. Renegade is the morning line favorite at 2-1. The Kentucky Derby runner-up will start just outside of Chief Wallabee, Bill Mott’s frontrunner who finished fourth on the first Saturday of May. Two other Derby horses will make the trek to New York: Chad Brown’s Emerging Market and Brad Cox’s Commandment.

For the third-straight year, the Belmont Stakes will look a little different. Traditionally, the “Test of Champions” is 1 1/2 miles. It has been cut back a quarter-mile at Saratoga Race Course, which cannot accommodate the distance. Racing will return to Belmont Park in September after NYRA invested $575 million in renovating the historic race track.

Fox will carry the races at Saratoga, beginning at 3 p.m. ET on Saturday. The Belmont Stakes post time is set for 7:04 p.m. ET.

2026 Belmont Stakes Post Positions

Post	Horse	Odds	Trainer	Jockey	Owner
1	Vitruvian Man	30-1	Doug O’Neill	Antonio Fresu	Glenn Sorgenstein WC Racing Inc.
2	Powershift	12-1	Todd Pletcher	Luis Saez	Repole Stable, Liberty Road Stables
3	Chief Wallabee	3-1	Bill Mott	Junior Alvarado	Michael and Katherine G. Ball
4	Renegade	2-1	Todd Pletcher	Irad Ortiz Jr.	Robert and Lawana L. Low and Repole Stable
5	Ottinho	20-1	Chad Brown	Dylan Davis	Three Chimneys Farm (Goncalo B. Torrealba)
6	Growth Equity	12-1	Chad Brown	Manuel Franco	Klaravich Stables Inc.
7	Commandment	6-1	Brad Cox	John Velazquez	Wathnan Racing
8	Emerging Market	6-1	Chad Brown	Flavien Prat	Klaravich Stables Inc.
9	Golden Tempo	9-2	Cherie DeVaux	Jose Ortiz	Phipps Stable and St. Elias Stable

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