The 2026 American Triple Crown was considered one of the most wide-open in years. But even so, no one expected the unheralded Golden Tempo to storm through the field. Not once, but twice.
Cherie DeVaux’s prized asset was a 23/1 rank outsider for the Kentucky Derby back in May, and those odds seemed to be bang on the money as Golden Tempo set dead last toward the final stretch. Then, he charged from 18th to a shocking upset win, and five weeks later, he’s done the same thing again.
Golden Tempo Does It Again
Golden Tempo sat twelve lengths off the pace heading into the final stages of the 158th Belmont Stakes at Saratoga, only to once again mount a comeback and seal yet another upset win. Cherie DeVaux bypassed the Preakness in a decision that drew ruffled feathers, and the vindication arrived in the most emphatic language racing possesses. Her horse — a son of Curlin out of the Bernardini mare Carrumba —then romped to glory again, making her the only female trainer to ever win two Triple Crown legs in the same calendar year.
Kentucky Derby winner Golden Tempo DOES IT AGAIN and wins the Belmont Stakes!
+750 ✅🤑 pic.twitter.com/ROKnq2bWhr https://t.co/AGBpaaxUpd— Bovada (@BovadaOfficial) June 6, 2026
As ever with the world of racing, attention immediately turns to what’s next and specifically, what all of this means for the end-of-year Breeders’ Cup Classic, the most lucrative race on the American circuit. What hopes does Golden Tempo have of securing that windfall? Let’s take a look at the horse in form and the ones considered the biggest threats to the crown.
Golden Tempo — 12/1
What does a horse that has won two Triple Crown legs in the same year owe a sport that keeps asking him to defy expectation — and what do those defiances mean for his Classic price? Well, just like at Churchill Downs and Saratoga, online betting sites continue to write him off. The early Breeders’ Cup Classic horse racing at Bovada odds currently position Golden Tempo as a distant 12/1 shot for the end-of-year showdown. If he is to secure the most lucrative win of his career, he will have to do so as an underdog for the third time this year.
DeVaux has pointed to the Travers Stakes as the next target — a marquee prep delivering genuine form lines against older horses. Arrive off a strong performance there, and these odds contract fast.
Sovereignty — 4/1 Favorite
Make no mistake: Sovereignty’s position at the head of this market was earned. In 2025, the Godolphin homebred swept the Kentucky Derby, Belmont Stakes, and Travers — the first horse since Thunder Gulch in 1995 to complete that specific triple — then arrived at Del Mar as the 6-5 morning-line favorite before a fever spiked and he withdrew. What should have been a coronation became a standing grievance that Bill Mott and Godolphin have spent every month since determined to resolve.
His four-year-old campaign introduced complications. At his seasonal debut in the Oaklawn Handicap, a seven-year-old White Abarrio rolled past Sovereignty and Journalism down the stretch. A first-start-back loss against a fresh older rival doesn’t disqualify a unanimous Eclipse Award winner and Horse of the Year — but questions don’t help. At 4/1, he’s the worthy market leader: a proven Grade 1 machine with unfinished business at Del Mar.
Magnitude — 8/1
Consider what the Dubai World Cup result means for everyone in this field. Steve Asmussen’s runner led from the gate, dictated fractions, and held off the reigning Breeders’ Cup Classic champion by a length through a stretch duel at Meydan. He’d announced himself earlier with a dominant Razorback Handicap win at Oaklawn — but a Grade 1 dirt win over the Classic distance is as close as racing gets to a de facto audition for Del Mar. Magnitude passed it with distinction.
Asmussen won the 2008 Dubai World Cup with Curlin and has never quite landed the Breeders’ Cup Classic. Trained for owner Ron Winchell with Ortiz in the irons, Magnitude has no prior Breeders’ Cup appearances — the Dubai form line renders that irrelevant. At 8/1, he’s the most credible each-way threat to Sovereignty in the field.
Nysos — 8/1
Can a dirt-mile specialist take the step up to ten furlongs on a sweeping championship track and still produce the turn of foot that makes him so dangerous? That is the only question his 8/1 odds are actually asking. The 2025 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Del Mar was authoritative — Coolmore took a stake in this Bob Baffert-trained Nyquist colt immediately afterwards, a signal of how seriously the sport’s powerbrokers regard his ceiling.
The Saudi Cup introduced nuance: a gallant second to Forever Young in Riyadh, the closest he has come to proving himself beyond a mile. At 8/1, this price reflects distance doubt, rather than ability doubt. If Baffert can coax ten furlongs out of Nysos at Del Mar, this horse is genuinely lethal.
Forever Young — 10/1
The reigning Breeders’ Cup Classic champion is available at 10/1 to win the race he already won. Yoshito Yahagi’s runner opened 2026 by defending his Saudi Cup crown, holding off Nysos at the head of a 13-horse international field, then surrendered the Dubai World Cup to Magnitude only in the final strides. His first defeat since 2025.
He knows Del Mar. He won the Classic last year. He arrived at the 2025 festival carrying the world’s best Timeform rating and delivered on it. The uncertainty at 10/1 involves routing — whether Yahagi sends him home to Japan before circling back in November. That ambiguity is real. But championship form at double figures doesn’t come along often.
