Belmont Stakes: Pletcher maps plan for Renegade, Powershift

Looking at the head-on view of Renegade breaking from post 1 in the Kentucky Derby is like watching an unavoidable car accident in one of those wait-for-it Instagram videos. After Irad Ortiz Jr. veered him one path outward, Litmus Test and Intrepido shoved him back three paths toward the inside rail.

Somehow, Renegade emerged from last month’s rodeo unscathed and even came within a neck of winning the race.

“Luckily, he didn’t sustain any bruises or whatever else you could encounter from all the bumping that went on early in the race,” Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher said. “He seemed to physically exit in good shape, and then we just kind of focused on giving him a couple weeks and getting his weight back up. We’d scheduled two breezes for him, and both of those went really well.”

Click here for Saratoga entries and results.

How he responds mentally might go a long way toward determining the outcome of Belmont Stakes 2026. That is where Renegade seems certain to be the post-time favorite in a much smaller field of nine 3-year-olds going 1 1/4 miles Saturday evening at Saratoga, which hosts the classic one more time before it returns next year to Long Island.

With four Belmont Stakes victories to his credit at its traditional 1 1/2-mile distance downstate, Pletcher said Renegade looks like he is doing well after experiencing the Derby mayhem.

“I think immediately after the race, they could lose a little bit of weight and tuck up a little bit,” Pletcher said. “We were always going to give him the five weeks back to the Belmont, and so we got him to Saratoga.”

Returning to a familiar barn stall rather than having to be shipped, Renegade will enjoy a home-course advantage. So, too, will Powershift, his stablemate who also is owned by Mike Repole.

That immediately brings to mind the question that Pletcher will hear countless times this week. Since the field for the Belmont lacks the early speed that was on display in the Derby, are Repole and Pletcher entering Powershift to be a rabbit?

“He very well could be the pacesetter,” Pletcher told Horse Racing Nation. “He’s not in there as a pacesetter for Renegade or a rabbit for Renegade. He’s in there on his own merits, and we figured that they complemented each other’s styles. If he’s the controlling speed, and (jockey) Luis Sáez decides that they’re going at the right pace for him, then that’s fine. But he’s certainly not in there as a rabbit.”

With Powershift, Pletcher is repeating something he has not been afraid to do in the Belmont. That is to enter a horse who has no previous stakes experience. He did that two years ago with Mindframe, who placed a close second to Dornoch.

Pletcher made the case for Powershift, a Constitution colt whose maiden-breaking, 1 1/16-mile victory on third asking last month at Churchill Downs earned a 95 Beyer Speed Figure, according to Daily Racing Form.

“He’s a horse that we’ve always had very high hopes for,” Pletcher said. “After breaking his maiden on the Kentucky Derby undercard and running speed figures that were on par with the horses in the Derby, we felt like he deserves a chance.”

As insistent as he was about Powershift being a legitimate win prospect this weekend, Pletcher is fully aware that Renegade already has a track record of success in top-flight company. Co-owned by Robert and Lawana Low, the Into Mischief colt has earned $2,031,500 from a record of 6: 2-3-1. His four-length triumph in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby franked his past performances. It was a big reason he was the 5-1 second choice in the Kentucky Derby, where he was caught at the wire by 23-1 long shot Golden Tempo.

Now Pletcher runs it back with another 1 1/4-mile test for Renegade.

“The preparation for the Belmont is pretty straightforward,” he said. “You’ve got to have a horse that’s super fit that’s run in the Arkansas Derby and five weeks later in the Kentucky Derby. So you’ve got five weeks back to another mile-and-a-quarter race.”

Golden Tempo is not the only Derby horse who Renegade will see again this weekend. Maiden winner Chief Wallabee came out of Tampa Bay Downs to finish fourth, Florida Derby (G1) victor Commandment seventh and Louisiana Derby (G2) winner Emerging Market 10th.

“I think (Chief Wallabee is) certainly a horse that you would be concerned about,” Pletcher said. “I said going into the Kentucky Derby that I thought the Florida route to the Derby appeared to be probably the strongest group, and he ran well. Commandment kind of split the field. But the Derby is the Derby, and it’s such a difficult racetrack to maneuver on, and it’s a full field like that. So I think those horses that ran well in the Kentucky Derby are going to be the main contenders.”

Last year Sovereignty, Journalism and Baeza filled a top three in the Belmont that was identical to the Derby. Since it was the first time in 47 years that a trifecta repeated itself in a Triple Crown race, that does not guarantee that this month’s 1 1/4-mile classic will look exactly the same as last month’s.

“The Belmont on its own is just a super difficult race to win,” Pletcher said. “The fact that it’s a mile-and-a-quarter kind of changes it a little bit. I think it may be a little bit of a different race, because there’s just some horses that maybe aren’t going to stay the mile-and-a-half that can potentially stay the mile-and-a-quarter. Having it run at Saratoga as opposed to the traditional mile-and-a-half oval at Belmont changes it and kind of evens it out for some horses.”

The Belmont Stakes post-position draw is scheduled for Monday at 5 p.m. EDT in Saratoga Springs, N.Y. The race is scheduled for Saturday at 7:04 p.m.