Travers 2026: Race-Day Bets, And Renegade’s Run To Beat Golden Tempo

They aren't brothers as their Kentucky Derby jockeys, the famously winning Ortiz brothers, are, but they're the next best thing, a pair of talented, sworn rivals at the very top of the Class of 2026. They keep meeting each other, and it's riveting each time they do. As we handicap these two for this stellar 157th running of the Travers Stakes at Saratoga – official post time, 6:35 p.m. Eastern – it's important for us to remind ourselves that the Travers itself is a glorious sort of prep, in the sense that it's a rite of passage for the top of each year's class of three-year-olds.

Figuratively speaking, by this point, this class has been bloodied in battle and have gotten to know each other. Hopefully, however their spring and summer have gone, they've developed form and accrued a modicum of tactical ability. This afternoon's $1.25-million test is a prep only if their connections decide to keep them on the track for graduation into the next level, namely, meeting the big very-well-schooled boys – think Sovereignty, among a host of other grown-ups – at the Breeders' at Keeneland smack on Halloween Saturday, October 31.

But first, Golden Tempo and Renegade have to get through each other, and that can turn into a bigger job for each of them than either athlete or their connections may expect. Before we trace the many colorful paths this field and its favorites have to travel, here, the obligatory refresher on the field and its odds.

Post Position, Trainer, Jockey, Morning Line Odds

1) Emerging Market, Chad Brown, Ricardo Santana, Jr., 15-1

2) Leading Change, Brad Cox, Manuel Franco, 12-1

3) Napoleon Solo, Chad Summers, John Velasquez, 8-1

4) The Puma, Gustavo Delgado, Javier Castellano, 8-1

5) Renegade, Todd Pletcher, Tyler Gaffalione, 3-1

6) Ocelli, Whit Beckman, Edgard Zayas, 20-1

7) Sea Strike, Chad Brown, Flavien Prat, 5-1

8) Baby Vino, Lindsay Schultz, Paco Lopez, 10-1

9) Golden Tempo, Cherie DeVaux, Jose Ortiz, 5-2

10) Silent Tactic, Mark Casse, Luis Saez, 10-1

(Source: New York Racing Association, 8/29/2026)

If you are following the morning line to play Golden Tempo over Renegade, there's a slightly different set of worries than if you are doing the reverse. The race has ten horses in it and, despite the proven advantage both favored Triple Crown veterans have over their colleagues, the race may not set up well for either of them. Sea Strike does look like a spoiler of sorts, Silent Tactic and Leading Change less so, on paper anyway. But any way you cut it, threats abound, and various combinations of them could prove quite difficult for the top two.

If both top closers have to do more or less the same thing, which is arguably what has to happen here for them to come out on

In one slender eventuality – slender in the sense that there is a small chance that this can be brought to pass –