By Steve Sherack
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – She's got the 'Golden' touch.
After pulling off a historic 23-1 upset in the GI Kentucky Derby, the Cherie DeVaux-trained 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard' Golden Tempo (Curlin) doubled up in Saturday's GI Belmont Stakes, held for the third and final time at Saratoga.
The Phipps Stable and St. Elias Stable homebred and future Lane's End stallion followed in the footsteps of Sovereignty (Into Mischief), who also secured the first and third legs of last year's Triple Crown after famously skipping the GI Preakness Stakes.
“I do think we made the right decision. I don't think we'd have the same horse if we did run back in two weeks (in the Preakness),” said the trailblazing DeVaux, who became the first woman to saddle a Kentucky Derby winner earlier this spring and the second to win a Belmont.
“That's a horse-by-horse, case-by-case decision. And for him, as much growth as we've seen in him, it would've been hard for him to follow that up in two weeks and then subsequently three weeks.”
Not shown much love at the windows by the lively crowd of 46,128 on a steamy afternoon–which briefly turned to a downpour at post time–the 6-1 fourth-choice broke outwardly from his wide draw in post nine and was masterfully steered over to the rail by Jose Ortiz heading into the clubhouse turn.
Golden Tempo trailed the field of nine through fractions of :23.96 and :48.29 and began to make his move heading into the far turn over a track playing very kindly to speed throughout the entire Belmont Stakes Racing Festival.
He rallied in tandem with GI Curlin Florida Derby winner Commandment (Into Mischief), seventh in the Kentucky Derby and off at 6-1, and the duo made an eye-catching sweep while hung out at least seven or eight wide at the top of the stretch.
Kentucky Derby fourth-place finisher and 5-1 second-choice 'Rising Star' Chief Wallabee (Constitution), meanwhile, made the first move and it ever-so-briefly looked like it was his race to lose as he had dead aim on GIII Peter Pan S. winner Growth Equity (Nyquist) as they turned for home.
Golden Tempo and Commandment raced shoulder to shoulder down the center with the unlucky Kentucky Derby runner-up and favored Renegade (Into Mischief) also kicking in now to their inside as well.
Chief Wallabee couldn't keep pace, and, somewhat surprisingly, neither could the GI Arkansas Derby winner Renegade and it was down to the aforementioned pair of deep closers.
Golden Tempo was always going a little better of the two, and, after a terrific show down the lane, finally put the race to bed to win going away by 1 1/4 lengths, stopping the timer for the 10 furlongs in 2:03.49. It was another four lengths back to Renegade in third.
“Jose (Ortiz) did the right thing and took him back knowing he makes that one run–not surprised that he won, but we're really grateful that he did,” DeVaux said.
Ortiz added, “I tried to make my move at the right time, with Renegade and Commandment. Split between them and he responded well.”
It was a rolling double for Vinnie Viola's St. Elias Stable, also a co-owner of back-to-back GI Manhattan S. winner and 'Rising Star' Deterministic (Liam's Map).
“So on Wednesday this week, I lost a very, very dear friend, that I grew up on the same block with, since we were 4-years-old, spent our whole lives and shared our family lives together– Dominic DiPrisco,” an emotional Viola said in the winner's circle as a rainbow fittingly appeared over the Saratoga backstretch.
“I said in my prayers this morning, I asked Dominic to help the horse, which I knew he would. He will be deeply, deeply missed. And this race is dedicated to Dominic DiPrisco, thanks for giving me a chance to say that again.”
The famed cherry red-and-black silks of the Phipps Stable were carried by the legendary Easy Goer to a daylight victory in the 1989 Belmont Stakes.
“It's been a hot minute since we won the Belmont Stakes, (nearly) 40 years, but what my great grandmother, grandfather and father built, Ogden and I, and the Violas, got the rewards from,” Daisy Phipps Pulito said.
“I mean, he's a phenomenal horse. He's got a fantastic pedigree. Obviously, there were doubters after the Derby, like Cherie (DeVaux) said, we were very confident with the kind of horse we had going into the Derby and going into the Belmont. I'm glad everyone else got to see that today, too.”
Golden Tempo, a 'Rising Star' debut winner at Fair Grounds Dec. 20, aced his two-turn debut with a come-from-behind win in the GIII Lecomte S. Jan. 17. A well-beaten third in the GII Fasig-Tipton Risen Star S. Feb. 14, he ran a much-improved third diving to the inside in deep stretch with blinkers added in the GII Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby Mar. 21. He was a neck better than Renegade on the first Saturday in May.
“We'll talk about a plan,” DeVaux concluded. “Obviously, the Travers is going to be our next big goal and how we get there, but you can see it on the track, what all of our markers are, is what we're hoping to translate to what we saw today.”
Pedigree Notes:
The always-remarkable two-time Horse of the Year Curlin, whose towering accomplishments as a stallion range from siring three Breeders' Cup winners on a single day–a feat he achieved in 2022 and again in 2023–to siring the winners of all three Triple Crown races, added another laurel to his crown with a second Belmont Stakes winner following his first-crop star Palace Malice in 2013. In the years between, Curlin has had four others hit the board: Keen Ice (2015), Irish War Cry (2017), Nest (2022), and Journalism (2025). Curlin himself was second in a thrilling edition of the Belmont in 2007.
A generational “big-horse” sire, Curlin has 70 graded winners (6% from starters) and 119 black-type winners (10.6% from starters). His breeding season was prematurely abbreviated this year following complications from an ulcer. Curlin stands at Hill 'n' Dale at Xalapa, where his 2026 fee was $225,000 and it is hoped the 22-year-old and current top-five leading sire will be able to return to the breeding shed next term.
Late damsire Bernardini, another of the best in the business and the current leading broodmare sire of 2026, marked his second year with the Kentucky Derby-Belmont double. In 2025, Sovereignty (Into Mischief) also won both Classics. Bernardini, who stood at Darley prior to passing in 2021, has 70 graded winners and 139 black-type winners out of his daughters.
Carrumba, dam of Golden Tempo, was barren for 2026 but is in foal to Gun Runner for next spring. The mare, whose foals are sixth-generation Phipps-breds through the Blitey branch of Lady Pitt, has a 2-year-old Nyquist colt who is expected to be campaigned, like Golden Tempo, by the Phipps/St. Elias partnership. The mare's yearling filly by Liam's Map is earmarked to be retained solely by the Phipps Stable. For more details on Carrumba and the Phipps family's long association with Claiborne Farm, where Golden Tempo was foaled and raised, as well as the Phipps/St. Elias partnership, see our The Producers story. —Jill Williams
GOLDEN TEMPO! THE KENTUCKY DERBY WINNER IS THE BELMONT STAKES WINNER TOO! pic.twitter.com/tRfUWOoHaa
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) June 6, 2026
Saturday, Saratoga Race Course
BELMONT S. PRESENTED BY NYRA BETS-GI, $2,000,000, Saratoga, 6-6, 3yo, 1 1/4m, 2:03.49, ft.
1–GOLDEN TEMPO, 126, c, 3, by Curlin
1st Dam: Carrumba (GSW & GISP, $621,500),
by Bernardini
2nd Dam: Castanet, by El Prado (Ire)
3rd Dam: Dancinginmydreams, by Seeking the Gold
'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard', OB-Phipps Stable & St. Elias Stables, LLC (KY); T-Cherie DeVaux; J-Jose L. Ortiz. $1,200,000. Lifetime Record: 6-4-0-2, $4,633,000. Werk Nick Rating: A+++. *Triple Plus* Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue- style pedigree.
2–Commandment, 126, c, 3, Into Mischief–Sippican Harbor, by Orb. ($485,000 RNA Wlg '23 FTKNOV; $475,000 RNA Ylg '24 FTSAUG; $500,000 Ylg '24 KEESEP). O-Wathnan Racing; B-Lee Pokoik (KY); T-Brad H. Cox. $360,000.
3–Renegade, 126, c, 3, Into Mischief–Spice Is Nice, by Curlin. ($975,000 Ylg '24 KEESEP). O-Low, Robert, Low, Lawana L. and Repole Stable; B-Robert Low & Lawana Low (KY); T-Todd A. Pletcher. $200,000.
Margins: 1 1/4, 4, 3 1/4. Odds: 6.00, 6.04, 1.75.
Also Ran: Chief Wallabee, Emerging Market, Growth Equity, Vitruvian Man, Ottinho, Powershift.
Click for the Equibase.com chart or the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
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