Picking a winner for Saturday’s Belmont Stakes seems simple. After all, Golden Tempo is coming off a win in the Kentucky Derby. In that race, he beat four rivals whom he will see again on Saturday. And the Beyer Speed Figure he earned in Louisville, Ky., five weeks ago is tied for the highest last-out speed figure of any horse in the Belmont.If handicapping horses were only that simple.In fact, Golden Tempo is a bad bet for the Belmont at Saratoga Race Course and is exactly the kind of horse that professional bettors salivate over fading. Instead, there are more intriguing options that offer better value in the final leg of the Triple Crown. Bet the Belmont at TwinSpires, where you can use the promo code CBSSPORTS to get $400 in bonus bets, double what’s available to the general public:Why Golden Tempo is a must fadeThere are two main reasons why the Derby winner is a play-against: pace and odds.In the Kentucky Derby five weeks ago, Golden Tempo got a dream pace setup. In that 18-horse field, 10 horses entered having led or were within 1 3/4 lengths of the lead at the first call in their most recent start. The result was an incendiary pace meltdown in the Derby in which the top three finishers — Golden Tempo, Renegade and Ocelli — were last, fourth to last and second to last, respectively.
By contrast, the nine-horse Belmont Stakes field features a dearth of speed horses. The horse with the highest TimeformUS early pace figure (111), Powershift, has never set the pace in his three career starts. In fact, the nine horses in the Belmont have combined for 41 career starts, and only once has a horse set the pace (Ottinho in a maiden race on Dec. 31).The projected slow early pace does not suit Golden Tempo, a dead closer who has been either last or next to last in all five of his career starts. To be fair, he has won races before with slow early paces, but those victories did not come against the quality of rivals he will see on Saturday.In addition, the expected odds on Golden Tempo make him an unattractive play. After going off at 23-1 in the Kentucky Derby, he is listed at 9-2 on the morning line for the Belmont Stakes. And there’s a good chance that he will leave the starting gate shorter than that. Casual bettors love putting their money on popular storylines, and Cherie DeVaux becoming the first woman to train a Kentucky Derby winne — as well as the media blitz that followed the race — have made her and the horse overnight…
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2026-06-03 20:56:46
