While only three starters from this year’s Kentucky Derby ran back in last Saturday’s Preakness Stakes at Laurel Park, there are as many as seven Derby alumni who are under consideration for a start in the $2 million Belmont Stakes to be run June 6 at Saratoga. Golden Tempo, Renegade, and Chief Wallabee – the first-, second-, and fourth-place finishers from the Derby – are considered definite for the Belmont, which, for the third straight year, will be held at Saratoga and run at 1 1/4 miles. Ocelli, third in the Derby and fourth in the Preakness, Commandment (7th in Kentucky Derby), Emerging Market (10th), and Potente (12th) are others from the Derby that will be considered for the Belmont. Filling out the 10 possible starters, at least as of Monday, were Chip Honcho, third in the Preakness; Ottinho, runner-up in the Blue Grass; and Growth Equity, winner of the Grade 3 Peter Pan. Golden Tempo and Renegade were separated by a neck when running one-two in the Kentucky Derby on May 2. Both horses were quickly withdrawn from consideration for the Preakness, primarily because of the two-week spacing between the races. Golden Tempo returned to the work tab on May 15, breezing a half-mile in 48.60 seconds at Keeneland for trainer Cherie DeVaux. Golden Tempo will likely work the next two Fridays at Keeneland before arriving in Saratoga on May 31. “He looks like he took another step forward, so he seems to be continuing to improve,” DeVaux said Monday about Golden Tempo. :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. DeVaux said she had no regrets about the decision to skip the Preakness, especially with the way the race played out. The Preakness was won by Napoleon Solo, who sat second while stalkers Iron Honor and Chip Honcho finished second and third. Closers such as Ocelli and Incredibolt finished fourth and fifth in the Preakness after finishing third and sixth, respectively, in the Kentucky Derby. Golden Tempo rallied from last under Jose Ortiz to win the Derby. “When a decision is made, it’s made, one way or the other, I don’t really dwell on that,” DeVaux said. “I don’t think the track, the way it was playing, would have played to his style.” Renegade is also a closer, as he rallied from 16th in the Derby to finish second. Renegade, trained by Todd Pletcher, is likely to return to the work tab this weekend. Pletcher has won the Belmont Stakes four times, three with horses coming out of the Kentucky Derby who skipped the Preakness. His first Belmont win came with the filly Rags to Riches, who had won the Kentucky Oaks 36 days before the Belmont. Pletcher has also run second nine times in the Belmont, four of those coming with Derby participants, one with a horse (Mindframe) who ran on the Derby undercard and another with the filly Nest, who ran second in the Kentucky Oaks. Trainer Chad Brown may run three in the Belmont. Emerging Market, the Louisiana Derby winner who finished 10th in the Derby, worked a half-mile in 50.12 seconds over the Oklahoma training track on Saturday. Brown also plans to run Blue Grass runner-up Ottinho and is still considering it for Peter Pan Stakes winner Growth Equity. Ottinho, who worked with Iron Honor on May 9 before that colt’s runner-up performance in the Preakness, had another workout Saturday, going a half-mile in 48.42 seconds over the Belmont training track. “Ottinho is a horse that’s really turned the corner and is coming back into himself again after having a minor injury to his foot out of the Blue Grass,” Brown said. “His last couple of works have been excellent.” Brown did say that Dylan Davis would ride Ottinho in the Belmont. Growth Equity won the Peter Pan Stakes by two lengths on May 9. While Brown isn’t convinced 1 1/4 miles is ideal for Growth Equity, his speed-figure pattern has convinced Brown “to leave him in the conversation and not withdraw him from the race,” he said. The field for the Belmont Stakes will be drawn on June 1. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.