With the Belmont Stakes scheduled for June 6 at 1 1/4 miles at Saratoga due to Belmont Park reconstruction, this year’s field still leans heavily on Kentucky Derby alumni. Horses like Renegade and Golden Tempo head that group, with Renegade returning after a r
By the time the Kentucky Derby wrapped up, it wasn’t just the winner who drew attention—it was the pattern of how the race was run and who had the most to gain from it.
This year’s Belmont Stakes will again be contested at 1 1/4 miles. rather than its traditional 1 1/2-mile distance. because of Belmont Park’s ongoing reconstruction and the race’s temporary relocation to Saratoga Race Course. The Belmont will be held June 6. and already. a large share of the conversation centers on Derby alumni—horses built for the longer grind. with the Derby’s late-running shape echoing into the next leg.
Since the turn of the century, eight “new shooters” to the Triple Crown have captured the Belmont Stakes (G1), the final leg of the series, with Arcangelo the most recent in 2023.
Arcangelo’s path matters because Arcangelo used the Peter Pan Stakes (G3) as a launching pad into Belmont success. Like Sir Winston in 2019 and Tonalist five years earlier. that prep race helped convert a talented sophomore into a Belmont winner. This year. Growth Equity—winner of the Peter Pan—and runner-up Talk to Me Jimmy have been floated as possibilities for June 6. though other races are also options.
Growth Equity overcame a wide trip to draw off by 2 lengths in the 1 1/8-mile Peter Pan at Aqueduct Racetrack. His final time of 1:50.25 came over a tiring surface. The performance produced a 93 Beyer Speed Figure and a 98 Equibase Speed Figure. Those numbers are not far off the 95 Beyer and 100 Equibase Speed Figures earned by Golden Tempo in his last-to-first Kentucky Derby (G1) triumph one week earlier at Churchill Downs.
The key difference is the quality of opposition. Golden Tempo did his work against the deepest and most talented 3-year-olds around. while the Peter Pan competition was merely consistent with its grade 3 status. Modern history also points to a familiar advantage: horses exiting the Run for the Roses have consistently held the strongest hand in the Belmont Stakes.
There’s also a practical rhythm to the schedule that modern trainers have learned to exploit. The 1 1/4-mile Derby. more so than the Peter Pan. often reveals which sophomores possess the stamina and constitution required for the Belmont. Then the five weeks between the Derby and Belmont provide spacing that many modern trainers consider ideal.
This year’s Derby structure also sets up what could be a compelling test of form. More than a half dozen could return for the Belmont, led by Phipps Stable and St. Elias Stable’s Golden Tempo and Repole Stable and Robert and Lawana Low’s Derby runner-up Renegade.
Golden Tempo enters as the division’s headliner after delivering trainer Cherie DeVaux a historic Derby triumph. DeVaux will attempt to win the Belmont with her first starter in the race, just as she did in the Derby.
Renegade is expected to be the likely favorite after the way he handled a difficult start in the Derby. Both Golden Tempo and Renegade rallied relentlessly from well off a contested pace. Renegade. though. endured particularly difficult circumstances early when he was repeatedly hammered by rivals during the opening 100 yards while breaking from the disadvantageous rail post.
Renegade’s comeback is a theme racing fans know well. He will attempt to rebound in the Belmont much the way Donegal Racing’s and Repole Stable’s Mo Donegal did in 2022 after overcoming a troubled Derby fifth from the inside post. Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher and jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. teamed with Mo Donegal in both races, and they reunite this year in the Triple Crown with Renegade.
Renegade breezed a half-mile in :49.80 over Saratoga’s Oklahoma training track May 21, while outworked by his stablemate, the talented maiden winner Powershift, a potential new shooter for Belmont.
Pletcher is no stranger to the Belmont Stakes. He is a four-time Belmont winner, striking first with 2007 Kentucky Oaks (G1) heroine Rags to Riches, before adding victories with Derby alumni Palace Malice in 2013, Tapwrit in 2017, and Mo Donegal in 2022.
Reflecting on Renegade and his effort in the Derby. Pletcher told track publicity. “He’s a brave horse and a lot of horses might not have rebounded and run as well as he did considering all the bumping around he took early. I thought he ran a very courageous race. He was a little tired afterwards. which you would expect. but it seems like his energy level is back where we want it now.”.
Pletcher also addressed Powershift’s role in shaping the next step for the stable, saying, “It’s kind of the trend of American racing now—lighter-raced horses running in bigger races.”
The Belmont picture still includes horses whose Derby trips didn’t look like they were headed to the winner’s circle—but who may be better served by the new circumstances. One need only review the chart of this year’s Derby to note how strongly the race favored late runners. The top-four finishers rallied from the rear half of the field. and the four closest to the early pace retreated to finish fifth or farther back.
Among the pace players. only So Happy remains an outside possibility for the Belmont as trainer Mark Glatt evaluates his trainee and upcoming racing options. Because So Happy is a son of 2015 champion male sprinter Runhappy, questions linger regarding his effectiveness at a classic distance. Having already been returned to Glatt’s Southern California base. So Happy would need another cross-country journey to travel to New York for the Belmont.
Two Derby runners who failed to seriously threaten at Churchill but still figure to be formidable Belmont contenders are Florida Derby (G1) winner Commandment. who finished seventh. and Louisiana Derby (G2) winner Emerging Market. who ran 10th. Commandment broke slowly and raced wide. Emerging Market raced surprisingly close to the pace, tracking the leaders in fifth down the backstretch before flattening out late.
Trainer Chad Brown said Emerging Market lost a shoe in the Derby and speculated it may have occurred when his 3-year-old jostled with other horses into the first turn. Racing without one of his four shoes may have compromised his effort; the colt exited the race with foot soreness that subsided after several days.
Emerging Market also brings the kind of background that turns a bad trip into a question mark worth answering. He was the least experienced horse in the Derby field with only two prior starts. He had every right to become discouraged under adverse circumstances. but the form from earlier this year gives him a plausible foundation: he defeated Golden Tempo by a length when the pair finished first and third. respectively. in the 1 3/16-mile Louisiana Derby at Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots in March.
Among the Derby alumni. Emerging Market. Renegade. and Chief Wallabee all appear likely to benefit from training in recent weeks at Saratoga. Chief Wallabee trained particularly well in blinkers prior to the Derby. but found himself blocked in traffic for much of the race and intimidated in search of an opening in the early stretch. With a better trip, he appears poised for an improved performance.
The timing of preparation still matters. especially for any horse trying to make a late surge from a prep race rather than the Derby. It is also worth recalling that Peter Pan participants often benefited from already having raced over the Belmont Park surface in their immediate start before the Belmont Stakes. That has not been the case over the last few years. with the Peter Pan run at Aqueduct Racetrack amid the Belmont Park reconstruction.
Taken together, this is a Belmont field shaped by two forces: horses coming out of the Run for the Roses with numbers and momentum, and a handful of potential “new shooters” searching for the kind of breakthrough that has landed in the winner’s circle before.
Kentucky Derby alumni Belmont Stakes Saratoga Race Course Renegade Golden Tempo Growth Equity Powershift Peter Pan Stakes